Afterlife
by ThatOnePairofGlasses
Summary: When the Blossom murder case was solved, somehow, everything went back to normal, resolved. That spring night, however, none of us expected that the murder case was literally coming back to life. (Narrator!Jughead; Zombie AU; Broken!Bughead; Based on the premise of Afterlife With Archie, COMPLETE)
1. Dawn of the Dead

Riverdale for the last few months had been anything but the perfect, quaint little town you read about in comics. But of course, if you've read the prequel to this story, you already know what I'm talking about.

Yes, I'm talking about the murder of Jason Blossom, the perfect, rich heir, football co-captain of Riverdale. Every town has one, every town secretly plots to get rid of him. Spoiler alert, it was his father, and it got everybody and especially their parents riled up over the whole thing. I'd rather not go into the gory details here, else I wouldn't be writing this book separately, no, I'm here to talk about the mess it all made.

After we uncovered the sick truth about the Blossom's, their son's untimely fate, relation to the Cooper's, and their drug business on top of the maple syrup... we thought we were done with them. Oh, how wrong we were.

That spring day started out just like every other we enjoyed before the Blossom drama erupted all over us like a volcano that had been inactive for years. I was sitting in a booth at Pop's Diner with my best friend, Archie Andrews, his girlfriend, Veronica Lodge, and my own, Betty Cooper. We were just talking about something—I can't remember. I just remember laughing and being so happy. The others were too; you could practically see the light reflecting off their big, toothy grins and the windows to their everlastingly merry souls. It was as if nothing had happened. As if Veronica had always been there, or Betty had always hung out with us. Archie seemed especially beaming with positivity.

Ever since he had put all of the drama behind him, it was like removing the mask he had donned. No longer was he "Bad Boy Archie", he was now officially "Boy Next Door Archie." It pleased me to an extent to see him lowering his walls and coming out of his tense state, but something about it seemed more like a facade than the actual facade to me. You can sense things like that once you're friends with someone for a while.

Me and Archie, we go way back. Even when we weren't friends, he decided that it was his moral duty to stick up for me and fight my fights. It was no shock that we became fast friends(our fathers worked together anyway). My dad actually wanted me to stop hanging out with Archie after he began backing me up. Apparently, I needed to fight my own battles. Truthfully, I didn't want to after meeting Archie. He was everything I wanted to be. Strong, tall, great with women... not to mention strikingly good-looking. Only thing I wouldn't want would be his intellect. He's got edge, sure, and I don't like to brag but, let's just say I'm the sharpest in the knife drawer that is Riverdale High when it comes to common sense.

I'm not the kind of person to sugarcoat anything, ask around. I'm not afraid to admit that Archie lacked complete common sense throughout the whole bit of drama. Tragic, what happened with Grundy, but Fred refuses to send him to therapy. Maybe he just doesn't need it. He's Archie, he can get through anything.

Specifically, that spring day that we all hung out, I remember eating pancakes. They were the fluffiest, lightest, barely even singed pancakes. The butter provided was enough to melt your palette just thinking about it. Butter slathered all over the hot cakes was just heaven in such a small dish. The pancakes had the diameter of a football, but don't get confused, because they were in the most perfect circle shape. My only regret was ordering just four stacks of three.

Sweet sensations filled my cheeks as I tried to keep the pancakes all to myself. Hard as I tried, of course Betty watched liked a vulture circling its prey. I knew there was a reason I didn't feel as full as on a normal day, it was clear she was stealing parts of the cakes to add to her own plate of biscuits and sausage. Though, I suppose it is weird that twelve pancakes it a normal day for me. I'm weird, get used to it.

The only thing that made the pancakes amazing, was what made any breakfast item amazing. That's right, maple syrup. What was best about it, was that it was locally grown, so there were no additives or preservatives. Just pure sap from the tap. It's what everybody loved. Who cares if it came from the Blossom's? Syrup was syrup.

Betty kept her hands to herself once I decided to douse my food with the sugary delight that was the maple syrup sitting so idly by on the table, just waiting for me. Archie and Veronica didn't pay much attention, they were too caught up in making bad sexual puns over their breakfast of eggs and gravy. Adorable, cheeky, and incredibly naughty was the only way to describe the two.

Once the pancakes were reduced to crumbs, I found myself slurping down the last bits of syrup still on the plate. Say what you want about the horrific family that was the Blossom's, but they had a damn good monopoly on the syrup in Riverdale.

"Did you take a breath?" Archie chuckled, watching me. I just gave him a smirk in reply, it was all that was needed.

Veronica flipped a page in The Register, our town paper which was owned by Betty's parents. She had been perusing it after finishing off her biscuits and gravy which I admit, I eyed jealously. Somehow, she made the simple act of turning a page a turn-on. I could see Archie studying her expression coolly.

"Oh my god," she said, covering her mouth with one hand, the other clutched in a death grip on the paper. We were all alarmed, staring at her with anxious eyes. "It says here that the Blossom Maple Syrup had been previously poisoned!" It came off as the obvious joke that it was.

"Well, that's the end of me." I rolled my eyes, though there was a very small part of me that trusted her information for a second. "You could've made that a bit more believable. Maybe the delivery."

"I'll work on it." Veronica deadpanned. She perished the paper further, both hands on it now. "There is an interesting article in here though."

"What's it say, Ronnie?" Archie leaned over her shoulder, his face just as buried in the paper as hers was. Annoyed, she briefly pushed his nose away from the newspaper with her finger.

"'This story is not for the faint of heart,'" the article began. "'If you have any fear of the living dead, you may want to stop reading! On the night of the twentieth, a gravedigger who wished to remain anonymous testified to seeing a decrepit body on Thornhill rise out of the ground. When questioned on who it was, he revealed that it was possibly Jason Blossom due to the strikingly red hair. However, no pictures were taken, so it cannot be verified. Is this another chapter in the horrendous Blossom story?'"

Veronica folded the paper in her lap and stared down at the pool of gravy left on her plate. Archie leaned back with a sigh, watching a flickering light on the ceiling. I couldn't see, but I knew Betty was clenching her fists, making them bleed. As for me, I pulled apart her hands, trying to get her to stop. Inwardly, all I could think about was how bogus the whole thing seemed. It was bad enough that the Blossom's were in the spotlight again, but to be back in such a daunting way certainly spoiled our morning. After all of the things I had been through, getting into the mess with them, I decided then and there that I would have no part of it.

As a group, we walked out of Pop's; hearts heavy, knees weak, palms sweaty. Betty and I walked behind Veronica and Archie. It was a tough pill to swallow for the others that they would have to bear the cross of the Blossom's return. I was having none of it. I knew Betty would immediately hop onto this chance for another story and that I would have to distance myself from her if I wanted to survive this year with no worries or harm done to my personal life.

"I guess we better do something for the Blue and Gold," Betty said, positioning her head in the crook of my neck. Her arms were already wrapped around me, this was another invasion of space. She sensed my tensing up at this, so she sent me a look of worry.

"I'm not getting caught up in it again. You know what happened last time." I grumbled, struggling from her grasp.

"It won't be like last time. This is something minuscule. No one will even care as much." Betty pleaded, clenching her grasp around my waist. "I love you, and I won't let anything happen to you, I promise."

"If you loved me, you'd respect my wishes." I pulled myself away from her, catching up with Archie's stride. I put my hands in my jacket pockets.

"I do, but you've got the knack for journalism that I need. I need you to help me with this." Betty strutted over, reaching a hand out to touch my cheek, probably to console or kiss me.

Shocking everyone was the resounding crack that echoed across the cloud-filled sky of me smacking Betty's hand away from me. I gazed at her coldly through slits. Tears welled up in her doe brown eyes, but I couldn't find myself feeling guilty in the slightest. Veronica and Archie moved to support her as she crumbled to the ground in despair.

"You went too far." Archie mumbled, helping Betty up by himself. Veronica held her shoulders up.

"I can't do this again." I simply replied, shaking my head.

What ensued was the world's best staring contest as I took on three opponents, all shocked that I was beating them with my uncaring attitude.

This was only the beginning.

* * *

Author's Note: Yes, everything in this first chapter has a purpose despite what you might think ;)

Though it is going to go in the direction of a zombie apocalypse like the Afterlife series, it's my own story with nods and hints to the OG(mainly taken off TV Tropes lol)


	2. Children Shouldn't Play With Dead Things

_Author's Note: This story takes place in an AU where Fred doesn't die and doesn't have that DUI btw, so Jughead does live with Archie now._

 _(And yes, I did draw the new cover myself! It might be a little bit-crushed where FanFiction has a 6/9 ratio and wattpad covers gave some odd number, but the full cover is on my art blog on tumblr(same name))_

* * *

That night, I emerged from the hot, steamy shower a new person. The hot water resurfaced the memories of the hours before and made me contemplate my actions and the scales of their morality. There is nothing I've ever done that I regret; I'm a believer in the butterfly effect, where, if anything were to change, something would get seriously messed up. However, I did feel that I could've been less blunt with my feelings. Like always, I know I should keep everything to myself and go with the flow. It was only that once I truly felt open.

Betty, perfect Betty, was the only girl I ever had my eyes on. Girl next door to Archie, the two were destined to be a beautiful couple. Never would I have thought that I could've been anything to her. Always, I watched from afar as she and Archie awkwardly and inadvertently flirted. I couldn't imagine a world where Betty actually noticed _me_ , of all people. Her silky blonde hair which was put in a tight ponytail, her big brown eyes, her dopey grin... but until we began working on the Blue and Gold together, I was just the boy next door's best friend. Now, I risked becoming this once again.

Still, I have no idea what happened that morning to make me snap so quickly. It was true that I didn't want to get involved in the drama all over again, because who knew what might happen. My father was already in jail due to our last excursion, so to attempt another investigation would only sink my life further. Even then, I felt an anger that was entirely not me surging through my veins.

Sighing, I peered into the foggy mirror above me. My reflection was completely gone, and nothing could be seen. I waved my hand across the glass, hoping to see my features, but it was still unclear and alien.

Coming out of the bathroom, I was dressed only in Bermuda boxers and a simple grey tank. Across the hall, I slightly pushed the door open to Archie's room which, for now, was also my own.

Archie was sitting at his desk by the window. His television was on the local Michigan news. He looked up from his phone to greet me with a small smile. I bit my cheeks and looked down, wiping the sweat off my forehead leftover from my shower. It was hard to avoid the judging eyes of my best friend. He was clearly still upset by my rejection of Betty earlier.

"Jug, should we go with them?" Archie asked, though I had no idea what he meant as I'm sure he could see by my troubled squint.

"With who where?" I followed up, taking a seat on the edge of his bed.

"Betty and Veronica are going up Thornhill to see what's going on with the Jason sighting." Archie explained, leaning back in his seat which made the chair itself lean back.

I scoffed and crossed my arms, laying back on the bed. "You must be deaf and blind if you didn't see and hear what happened this morning. I'm not getting involved. I wrote one book, it doesn't need a sequel," I said, and yet here I am, writing the sequel.

"Don't you think you should try and make up for what you did?" Archie reasoned, twiddling his thumbs and staring out of the window.

Sending a guilty sneer his way, I rose to my feet, my head tilted back. "As much as I want to be there for Betty, I can't let anything happen to any of us, Archie. When we meddled in everything last year, your father paid for it, my father paid for it, and tensions became strained with Betty and Veronica's parents. There wasn't a soul unchanged by the drama of the year of the Blossom's. Do you really want all of that to happen again?"

"Of course not, Jug. I just want to help them with anything they need." Archie stood and unplugged his phone from its charger. "I'm gonna go down to the graveyard with them, but you can stay here if you want."

I shrugged my shoulders and allowed him to pass by me. It wasn't my call to stop him. If he wanted to start everything back again, he was free to. Who was I to get in the way of his business?

But no, dear reader, I did not follow him. I already informed him I wouldn't be, no need to change my mind. Once I'm set on something, I'm set for good. I laid back on the bed and watched the news, safe in the Andrew's house, under the covers of Archie's bed and holding the remote.

Meanwhile, I later found out from Archie the true, unadulterated story of the graveyard expedition. He bolted to Thornhill on foot, owning no car. By that time, Veronica and Betty had shown up to the graveyard as well, both having just left from Veronica's apartment at the same time as Archie left our house. After hopping the gates, the three, packing flashlights, explored the dead-infested grounds without me.

Slowly, but surely, the three ascended the small hill up to Jason Blossom's grand grave, eclipsed by the waning quarter moon. As they approached, bats flew from their perches to greet them, frightening Veronica. Reluctantly, Archie offered to examine the magnificent gravestone and area surrounding it. The only thing that may have differed from the original burial ground was a pile of dirt that looked like someone had been digging and then gave up early.

"I think the gravekeeper might have made the story up for some publicity." Betty concluded from Archie's find.

"Honestly, I don't know why we're even here. If they really did find Jason walking around last night, he's probably gone by now." Veronica pointed with her thumb towards the entrance. Archie and Betty nodded in agreement.

Shaking everyone to their cores at the same time was an unearthly rattling of the gate. The light of the flashlights couldn't reach so far to uncover the mystery man or woman trying to escape and obviously failing. Archie volunteered bravely to lead the checking out of the scene. Veronica and Betty followed him close behind.

When he was near enough, he started to hear a raspy growling coming from ahead. Later, all he could recall was the sound of his heart beating in his ears as he crept at a snail's pace towards whatever was lurking in front of him. The rattling intensified, causing Archie to step back, elbowing Veronica's nose. She muttered a curse and shoved Archie, pushing him into a darkness without the light of the flashlight which he had dropped due to the force of the heave. Almost crumbling to his knees, he stumbled for a couple paces until a staunch scent sent him reeling onto his back.

"Archiekins! Are you okay?" Veronica rushed to his aid, her hand over her mouth due to the stench. She knelt beside him with worry, but when Archie pointed ahead, she focused her attention to what stood in front of the two. Betty shone her light on the creature.

Shaking the gate, a being composed of rotting flesh turned its head around like an owl to face the three. The rumors were true. It was indeed the decaying corpse of Jason Blossom. His once side-swept ginger locks were now fanned out as if a combover covered his whole head. His jaw was hanging by a thread and his forehead's skin wasn't much better as the area around the bullethole hung over his face. Like a drug addict, his emerald eyes were big and bulging. Parts of his skull and bones poked out throughout his emaciated body, most notably at his joints. The fancy suit and tie he was buried in were reduced to mere shambles. Jason had fallen so far from grace in this disheveled undead form.

"I vote we run." Veronica whispered to the rest of the gang, a tone of fear drenched in her voice.

"Seconded." Betty nodded, staring deeply into the undead creature's eyes with nothing but vile hatred, weirdly entranced.

"Is 'thirded' a word?" Archie smirked unsurely. If it were not for Archie's interjection, Betty may have beat the corpse's skull in with her flashlight; for she was gazing at it with such abhorrence.

Slapping the sideways grin off Archie's face, Jason whipped around to the group, ambling towards them with intention to kill if those guttural moans were to be believed. He wasn't the slow archetype you saw in movies, either. Though he dragged a broken leg behind him, he moved with a purpose.

Archie grabbed the two girls' by their arms, dashing towards another way out, another gate, wherever that might have been. Betty and Veronica tried their hardest to guide him using the lights they still held. At one point, Veronica accidentally steered Archie through some people's graves instead of the path, having been frightened by bats flying into her which she mistook for Jason who was in fact, far behind them by that time.

Shooting out of the ground like a blooming stalk, a decrepit hand groped Archie's leg, sending everyone tumbling down. Furiously, he kicked the hand off with the foot not being held down. From there, he was allowed a swift escape as Betty and Veronica had soon regained their composures.

Soon, they observed from the safety of the graveyard paths, the buried began climbing out of the ground like demons anxious to rise up out of the fires of hell. Bloody, skin and bones, and decayed, the dead directed themselves in the direction of the three living.

With such a slow gait they held, it was an easy escape. Breathless, Archie used the rest of his energy to break the lock of the back gate off with Veronica's flashlight. With it gone, the three were free to exit the graveyard. Their mistake that night was forgetting to shut the gate in their hie.

I awaited the trio at home. If not for the loud buzzing on the television screen, I would've still been dozing off by the time they arrived. Groggily, I rubbed my eyes and turned the volume down. I clutched the cover I was under and attempted to close my eyes. However, the urgent message trying to be relayed by the eleven o' clock news caught my ears so I turned the volume back up. I hadn't heard the beginning of the program, but the ensuing sentences held my attention.

"Three teens have been spotted near the site of the graveyard where Jason Blossom and others have been reported to have mysteriously walked out," the newscaster said. "It seems that the living dead have invaded our town and these three may have something to do with it. Authorities have been informed and investigations are under way."

I smacked my forehead. This was exactly why I had told them not to get involved.

My eyes fell upon the doorway, waiting for the moment when Archie, Betty, and Veronica would stumble through. When it happened, all I could do was laugh coldly.

"We just risked our lives running from zombies and all you're doing is laughing? Where's the 'I'm glad you're safe' or the 'Are you okay'? Didn't you worry about us for even one second?" Betty huffed, not wanting to believe my lackadaisical expression.

"I told you what would happen and that I wanted no part of it." I reminded her. "You know you guys are wanted criminals now? The police think you brought the dead back to life." I nodded my head towards the television.

The newscaster took a deep breath before continuing on with her script. "We are now being informed that the sheriff has gone on record saying that though there are no precedents for bringing the dead back to life, he will ensure that whoever is responsible will be brought to some kind of justice for their crime. One death has already been reported, that of the Cub Scout leader, Dilton Doiley. He was found wandering outside his home at night when a couple of the dead from Thornhill attacked, brutally murdering him."

"Already one dead, tsk tsk." I shook my head with a knowing smirk. "Looks like you're in deep."

"It was a mistake, okay? We can't exactly go back in time to fix it." Archie gestured to the screen, stating that, "At least Dilton has come back to life," as the newscaster reported.

"Listen, just don't get too caught up in this. Lay low. If you're thinking about pursuing this, just stop. Think about more important things like your family and friends and how their lives might be impacted." I made my attempt at sounding as if I knew any better than they did. Of course I did, it was just up to them to hear me out.

"Juggie, you know I have to find out why this is happening and what I can do to stop it. I have to inform the public. I want you to help me and be there for me when I do that." Betty pleaded once more.

Ready to explode, I leaned over with a tired expression, my hands clasped. I quickly caught myself before my temper detonated, reminding myself of the morning I had just had with a silent Archie on the way home, at home, and even now. "Bets, I can't follow you down this path you're taking. It's against everything I want right now. You need to respect that."

"I do." Betty gave an exasperated sigh. Finally, she understood where I was coming from.

"So what're we going to do now that we're prone to being arrested?" Archie asked. "I mean, how do they even figure we did the crime?"

"Just because you were at the scene. That's all it takes, Arch." I replied, making it sound as obvious as it was.

The newscaster's story just kept unfolding like a novel and it's chapters. "The mayor is proposing evacuation until city officials can get the mess cleaned up. We'll keep you updated."

"You guys should get some rest. I think we're in for a long day tomorrow." I rubbed my eyes, barely able to hold onto wake much longer.

But they were restless, and through the night they talked endlessly of possible causes. A necromancer named Sabrina casting a spell over the graveyard? No such person existed. The founder of Riverdale's brother laying a curse on the town on the day of its founding? Wrong date. A witch burned at the stake vowing revenge with her demon army? This wasn't Salem and those weren't demons.

Every suggestion created had to do with magic. I believed then what I know now; that they discarded all hopes of reality as they sat in a triangle on the floor, pondering over the events that had just taken place, and all so fast, too.

As for me, I laid in comfort, surrounded by the warmth of Archie's previous presence. I dreamt of those amazing pancakes and syrup I had that morning. Bliss.

* * *

 _Author's Note: but is anyone really going to miss Dilton tho_

 _Also sorry these chapter are soooo long. I remember someone once gave me a review telling me that I wrote too much, actually._

 _and if there's any questions, just send them in a review. I'll answer them at the end of the next chapter_


	3. Left For Dead

_Author's Note: Honestly, I'm pretty sure this is going to be the longest chapter. The gore starts now :D_

 _I'm updating this only on Monday's after this since it will kind of allow me to take the writings of the chapters a little slower so that I can make them longer—I mean refine them. Yep. THats what I meant. Also it gives people time to take a breather because tbh the chapters after this are emotional roller coasters._

* * *

Do you know how it feels to get left behind? It's torture because you're alone, you don't know why you're alone, and you don't want to be. During this whole situation, that's how I felt. Archie, Betty, and Veronica left me behind to go off on some mystery-solving escapade like they were the Mystery Inc. They didn't care if I was somehow swept up in the tidal wave their actions caused.

When I woke up the morning after the mess started, I wondered why I was still sticking with them. Another thing I wondered was who left the television on all night. The last thing I wondered about was at what time did Betty crawl in the bed with me. At least she was adorable. I tried not to stare too long, guilt rising in my chest and all.

Careful not to wake her, I left Betty by her lonesome. I had to tiptoe out of the room as Archie and Veronica laid on the floor on my air mattress, barely stirring. They needed as much rest as they could get for what I knew was coming.

My hand still resting on the door, I looked at them with even more guilt, as if I didn't have enough already. Instead of being on the front lines, I had stayed at the side. Maybe I should've gotten more involved. Perhaps then, I could've joined them in all of their troubles and even taken the edge off.

Repeatedly, I told myself to forget the mentality of remorse and regret as I descended the steps in a rush. If I held on to "what-ifs", my whole life would be swallowed up in them, and I wasn't about to let that happen to myself.

Catching my eye was the living room's television. Here, the news was on as well. Difference was, there were no snores blocking out the audio, so I could actually hear it. God, I loved Betty, but she was definitely possessed by some kind of snore-demon.

I took a seat on the couch and, grabbing the remote from the coffee table, I turned up the volume ever so slightly.

There was a new newscaster this morning. It was a guy this time. "Last night, after multiple zombie-like creatures were spotted leaving the Thornhill Graveyard, we've been informed that they headed towards the south of the tracks. Police are wondering now if the teens from the previous night are South Side Serpents and have anything to do with the crime. Many deaths have been reported and the whole area is now considered off-limits and is the first place authorities have closed off. An attempt to evacuate the district has failed." Throughout the program I had been biting my lip, and I'm pretty sure the last sentence made it actively bleed.

Clutching the remote in my hand as I followed the program closely, I squeezed it a little too hard, popping the battery cover off. I threw it down on the floor, a shattering crack bouncing off the walls. I stood abruptly. I couldn't just sit there and let the city blame and walk away from the people who made a promise to protect me. If they were protecting me, then who was protecting them?

Absolutely fuming, I walked back into Archie's room, accidentally stepping on said redhead laying on the floor as I made my way to the closet. I thrust it open, snatching a pair of ripped jeans and a leather South Side Serpents jacket from their places on the rack. Hurriedly, I dressed on the bed whilst simultaneously watching the news for any updates.

I dug my hands into the pockets of my jacket and took out the lighter which I had probably absent-mindedly put in it. I must have been half-asleep as well because I flicked it a couple of times before realizing there was no reason to do it in the first place. It was just soothing, and also a habit.

"Jughead? What's going on? Are you going somewhere? What happened to your lip?" Archie questioned me in the only way someone who's half asleep could.

I ignored his questions for the moment, instead I asked, "Does your dad have any guns or weapons?"

"You're not going out to try to fend off those things, are you?" Archie sprang to his feet. Now he was shuffling through the closet to try to find something to put on in order to go with me because he was completely naked besides his boxers. "I can't let you go by yourself. Not to the South Side." he explained, coming over to me with a pair of pants hanging over his shoulder. I smirked and laughed a little when he forgot a shirt, but my smile faltered when I remembered the purpose.

"I have to," I said dryly, shaking my head and squinting. "If I bring Betty, I'm just putting her at risk. Same for you or Veronica. I have to go see what's going on."

"You know we don't care, Jug. We're all in this together." Archie put his hand on my shoulder. I pushed it off and held his hand in a death grip, sneering directly into Archie's innocent viridian eyes. It was the only way to get him to stand down. Otherwise, I'd have been there for another hour listening to lectures about friendship like he was some kind of children's cartoon.

"I'm going alone." I growled, a grimace painted onto my lips. I released Archie's hand with a raise of a brow and made my way towards his desk. I remembered that he kept a wood-cutting knife in it just in case he wanted to etch something in his guitar.

"You can't take that, it's blunt." Archie warned.

I grabbed the somewhat dull knife from his desk. I spun it in my hand and looked back at Archie with self-assuredness. "As long as I can bash a dead guy's brains in with it, this is all I need."

With a shove towards Archie, I stomped out of the room. The loud conversation we had roused Betty and Veronica.

Coming downstairs, I briefly noticed that Mr. Andrews had entered. I muttered a greeting and exited the house. Even if he was my legal guardian, he wasn't my dad. As far as I was concerned, I could go anywhere I damn well pleased. He yelled after me, but I continued on my path anyway.

I was halfway down the block, knife in my pocket, when I heard the click-clack of heels trying to run to catch up to me. Holding a gloomy look, I whipped around with my knife out. I slipped it back in my coat once I saw that my pursuer was Betty.

"Go home, Bets. I'm not risking your life." I crossed my arms and stared out at the road, refusing to lay my guilt-filled eyes on her.

"I don't get you. When I ask you to help me with the investigation, you say no. Now when it's the Serpents, you go as soon as you hear they're in trouble?" Betty scoffed. "Why is there a double standard all of a sudden?"

"That night that we—you know" I shuffled uncomfortably before regaining my composure, "—the South Side Serpents declared me under their protection. If I don't help them in return, then I'm probably the biggest jerk in the universe. It's personal now." I gestured to the direction I was heading in before she stopped me.

"And it wasn't personal when your girlfriend wanted to go investigating her cousin's death?" Betty raised a brow. She scoffed again, as if anything I said was unbelievable. "You are so unpredictable, Jughead."

Even in anger, Betty was still that beautiful girl who I used to sometimes only come over to Archie's to spy at through his window. When we finally got together, I couldn't believe it. I had overcome the obstacle that was Archie, but now I was slipping back down the slope. I never imagined she wouldn't take my side. It was all so sudden. I had to choose my next words carefully if I didn't want to devolve back into the boy next door's best friend.

"I don't actually have a choice anymore if I want to delve into the mystery. I have to because they're my family, Betty." I got the bad feeling in my stomach that these were not the right words. Or maybe it was just the pancakes from yesterday.

"I'm your friend; friends are family too." Betty's frown scrunched up. I realized she was ready to cry and stepped forward. She held up a hand and looked down, pinching the bridge of her nose. "I get it. You're too complicated. I should have never gotten involved with you."

She was taking it too far now. My anguish turned to anger. I furrowed my brow, and stepped closer again, only for her to step back. This was it. Maybe I shouldn't have gotten with my best friend's neighbor after all.

After stuttering, stammering, and a couple of misplaced steps, I finally managed out, "Elizabeth Cooper, we are done!" I had yelled at the top of my lungs which soon became sore. I didn't care who heard us.

"Forsythe Pendleton Jones, I wish I never started this downhill relationship!" Betty squawked like a bird on its last legs, tears flowing down her scarlet cheeks.

I bit my cheeks and stormed off in the other direction while she watched. Wiping tears trying to form in my eyes, I struggled not to look back at her. This was our second break up and yet, it felt like things couldn't be patched up after this one unlike the last. I just lost the girl next door.

Thankfully, not adding to my growing list of stresses, there were no hordes of zombies on my way to the south of the tracks. I even allowed myself the time to stop and get some burgers from Pop's to go. There was a hurry, but not that big of one. I had them finished before I got to my destination anyway.

I was actually starting to wonder why there were no zombies. That is, until I actually got near the South Side. Then, they were springing up all over like squirrels at a park. Some of them looked like people who had died natural deaths besides, you know, the rotting flesh and blood dripping from their mouths and other various holes. Most looked like they had been viciously torn apart by the other dead. The ones murdered by the zombies had limbs missing, entrails hanging out of their stomachs, and wide open craniums. It was disgusting, and part of me wanted to barf just looking at them for a second, but I kept my breakfast where it was.

One looked like it was missing legs and had only arms, dragging its lumbar spine behind it. Judging by the jacket, it was previously a South Side Serpent. I would've felt bad if I didn't put it out of its misery, so I rushed to pin down its arms. I tried to jam my knife straight into its skull, but I found myself pausing. Movies, games, and television all conditioned me to know to kill zombies, but I couldn't help but wonder if they really had feelings or could think for themselves. It hadn't even tried to attack me. Who was I to destroy it?

My face scrunched up in guilt, I examined the Serpent closer. It was a poor girl who seemed to have been running from zombies but got caught and ended up with her legs ripped off. I took pity and left her where she lay, continuing towards my destination.

At some point, I wondered where I was going in general. The Whyte Wyrm, I decided. However, I never reached that location because a familiar voice called out to me.

"FP!" The voice shrieked.

The nickname being unknown to me as my own, I frantically searched for my father. Realizing he was nowhere to be seen, I understood the scream to have meant me. It was coming from my old trailer which looked to have been boarded up at the windows. It was surrounded by more than a few zombies, clawing at the walls and the door whose boards had fallen off.

I approached carefully, heart beating out of my chest and knife in hand. A cold sweat dripped down my forehead. The disabled zombie was easy, these with both legs _and_ arms would be no such target. Thinking through my plan, I quickly spotted a space in the window next to the door which was large enough to crawl through. There was even a crate for me to stand on. It was perfect.

Running full force so I couldn't chicken out, I took a leap like I was doing a long jump, and slipped on the crate, falling back on my head. I rubbed the back of my skull as I attempted to locate the crate through hazy vision. I snatched it away from confused and curious zombies. Hightailing it was my only option and thankfully, there were no dead people at the back of the trailer, so I was able to set up over there. Using my knife, I hacked away at the boards in the window, raised it up, and climbed through the open space, landing in a crouch.

Once inside the house, I immediately spotted the source of the voice. I rose and slowly made my way to them. They leaned against a window which had miraculously not been boarded up. The closer I came, I could make out the details of their face and the recognizably greasy long hair. It was Joaquin. Though, he was noticeably more in shambles than last I had seen him.

"Joaquin!" I shouted, shocked. I ran to him and pulled him to his feet. "What happened? Why'd you come back? I thought dad told you to skip town."

Joaquin swept the hair out of his eyes after a failed attempt at trying to blow it off. "I came back for Kevin," he said, a faint pink on his cheek which told me he was definitely thinking of his ex. Soon, his expression became distraught. "But I came back on the wrong day, FP. Have you seen those demons outside?" he pointed outside the window with wide eyes.

"Yeah, of course I have. I came here because I heard you screaming. Weren't there any weapons here?" I asked, looking around the shabby living room which only got shabbier after I started living with Archie, I guess, because clothes piled up and trash was scattered everywhere.

"That's why I came. I checked everywhere, FP, but they cleaned your dad out." Joaquin massaged his temples, pacing back and forth in front of me.

"I'm sure we can exit the way I came in." I shrugged. "That's why you called for help, right? You didn't know how to get back out." I concluded.

"Yes and no," Joaquin said, pulling at his hair. "There's that and there's like, five zombies in the other rooms. I managed to close and lock the doors. They haven't figured out doorknobs yet, but I don't want to wait around until they _do_."

I actually laughed dryly at the dead and our situation for once. Shaking my head, I took my knife and spun it around. "I think I can take care of it."

If they were attacking Joaquin on my private property, it was legal, right? Did the dead really have rights? I discarded all thought that they might have as I crept towards the door to my old room. There was an emergency door that my dad had built back there. It would be a good escape route. Using the knife, I picked the lock, opening the door. What awaited were five beings not completely hostile. They just stared at me as if I was one of them. Were they really as bad as everyone made them out to be?

I had to fulfill my mission to Joaquin, so I pushed one of the Serpents—they all wore South Side Serpent jackets— against the wall and drove my knife in-between its eyes. Blood spat out of the dent I left and splattered across my forehead. I watched as it dropped to my feet. It was dead. Or could you really say dead? Immobile, might've been a better word. Or rather, braindead.

And even though I had just killed one of their little buddies, they still ignored me, moving towards the open door to get to Joaquin who stupidly peeked out from behind the living room walls to see how I was doing. I grabbed the one closest to Joaquin and forced it down to the floor, jamming my knife in the back of its head, blood spurting across my cheek. The other three suffered the same fate as the first. Their ignorance wasn't the only thing that surprised me though.

Returning to Joaquin who sat against the window once more, I approached with my hands on my hips, staring daggers through him. "And you're telling me, you had no weapons, and yet you somehow pushed all of these—things—back into my room?"

"Well, to tell you the truth—" was all he could say before his neck was grabbed by a rotting hand breaking through the glass. The shards in its fingers now embedded themselves into Joaquin's skin as he struggled to get the hand off. I gripped the hand and cut down like a butcher slicing ham. Still, the hand was wrapped around Joaquin's neck, so I helped him pull it off.

I hied to get to the bathroom. While in there, I made sure to clean the blood off my face and hands. I brought back some bandages for all of the various holes now in Joaquin's neck. It looked like he had gotten mauled by a group of vampires.

Then, the door was kicked down. We stared with wide eyes at the culprit. It was Sheriff Keller. Following him were his son, Kevin, Archie, Betty, and Veronica.

"You're lucky you have some loyal friends. The whole town was evacuated three hours ago. You two are coming with me." Sheriff Keller demanded, pointing his shotgun straight at us.

Joaquin shared a mutual gaze with Kevin. I stood and put my hands up silently.

* * *

 _Author's Note: as much as I love bughead, there's another ship I love even more_

 _also does anyone remember left for dead 2 that was such a good game. I never played it myself, but I loved watching my brother play it with our cousins._


	4. Night of the Living Dead

_Author's Note: I'd love to hear some feedback on how you guys think the story's going so far! Reviews give me life!_

* * *

A great-but-not-too-great-because-he-was-kind-of-a-shitty-person man once said, "Leave no family behind." That was my father. I agree with his sentiment, though I'd like to add a conjunction and clause to that saying due to the loyalty shown to me by mine. I say, "Leave no family behind, and friends are family."

It should come as no shock that it was Archie, Betty, and Veronica who taught me that. I felt a real sense of camaraderie from them when I saw the three walk into my disheveled trailer with the Keller's. Even though the town was ordered to evacuate and most had, they had stayed behind to get me. I didn't understand how they could rubber band back to me even when I pushed them away so far. That right there was true friendship.

Leaving immediately was probably the best decision. The sun had set and the moon was completely hidden in shadow. There would've been no light if not for the bright stars.

We all walked out to the sheriff's police car. You could see entrails and fingers caught in the tires, and various undead bodies under the car. Some of them weren't completely braindead yet, and were clawing at the hull of the car, wishing for an escape. A part of me wanted to free them, but another was glad they were stuck there so they couldn't hurt anyone. I suppose the ones with just shotgun holes in their brains were faring a little bit better.

"How're we all going to fit?" Joaquin moaned. It crossed my mind, but I didn't really think too hard on it.

"I'm in front with my dad, you guys can all sit in the back, however you want to arrange it." Kevin winked, waving around his dad's shotgun. I rolled my eyes, knowing what he was implying.

"There's something I need to go get before we leave." I informed Sheriff Keller.

"Son, you better go get it quick, else you might just find yourself stranded." he replied.

I stepped back into the trailer and headed for my room. I hoped that it was still here. Gracefully leaping over the undead bodies in my way, I got to my old closet. Under a large pile of dirty clothes and assorted toys from my childhood was a small Pokémon backpack(it had the second game's legendaries on it). My face lit up whenever I saw it, reminding me of the times when my mom and sister actually lived with my dad and I. It wasn't big enough for me to carry around normally, but it was as big as a larger purse, at least. It would be helpful for carrying supplies.

Opening the refrigerator door, I perused it's contents. There seemed to be nothing but various condiments, clabbered milk, and beer. I examined the cabinets, and the only thing not cleaned out or half-eaten, was a solid box of Twinkies. These were definitely the kind of food item to survive an apocalypse, because no one eats them. Or maybe that's just me. I have standards.

Nevertheless, I stashed them in the bag along with my wood-cutting knife. Someone would appreciate them. I retrieved some bandages, alcohol, and a small packet underneath the magazine pile, just in case I needed it.

I came back out with the backpack around my arm like a purse since it was too small to fit both of my arms into. Sheriff Keller eyed me suspiciously.

"What've you got there?" he studied my expression carefully. My smile had faltered, and I think he caught on that I had something in there that I should've left in the trailer.

"Just medical supplies," I slipped.

"When we get out of Riverdale, I'm going to have to check the contents of that backpack. We don't have the time right now." Sheriff Keller trudged over to the squad car.

Archie took me aside. "Dude, you can't just bring grass along."

"Mind your own business, Arch, you know it's the only thing that gets me through the day." I calmly reminded him. Realizing the possible sting of that comment, I said, "And thank you for coming back for me, I really appreciate it." I smiled.

I noticed a handgun in his back pocket. I pointed to it with a smirk. "You confiscated something, copper?"

He was confused at first, but then slid out the gun, smiling at it. "Dad gave it to me before he left town."

"That's a good one." I smirked approvingly.

Archie nodded and descended the steps to the trailer, hopping into the backseat with Veronica who straddled a baseball bat(I later learned it was given to her by her mother before she left as a gift from her father). Joaquin seemed to have been sitting in the middle. Now all that was left was for me to get in with Betty. She ever so patiently awaited me, tapping her foot.

"We're not doing what I think we are, are we? Because, I'm not really comfortable with someone sitting in my lap." I explained, a faint red appearing on my cheeks due to the awkwardness of the statement. A normal guy would've killed to have a girl in his lap.

Betty scoffed. "Does everything have to go your way, Jughead?"

"Course not, I just don't like the feeling." I shrugged.

"If it was anyone else, you'd be just fine!" Betty pointed a finger at my chest, causing me to step back.

"What don't you get about 'it makes me uncomfortable'? It'd be the same way if it was Archie or Veronica or anyone else." I argued my point, though really I was just repeating it. That's what it took to get Betty to understand something, often.

She threw her hands up and crawled into the backseat, sitting on Joaquin's legs with a mild discomfort due to the two never really having any interaction. That, and Kevin gave her a look that could honestly kill. I smirked contentedly as I received a seat all to myself. I laid the bag on the floor and shut the the car door with a slam.

At first, I was questioning how we would be able to drive with all of the zombies underneath, but I had to ponder no longer as we skidded off, blood and miscellaneous body parts such as eyeballs splattered across our windows. The windshield escaped unharmed, but there was no way that I, Archie, or the Keller's were seeing out of the stained glass above our doors. Rolling down the window didn't cross my mind for even a minute.

Archie stole a glance at me from behind Veronica and then gazed out of his completely red window. I could tell he wanted to talk, I just didn't know what about. There were times when somehow, he was even more closed off than I was.

"Hey, do you need to talk about something, man?" I asked him, trying to steal his eyes away from the opaque window.

"No," he responded without even so much as a glance my way. At that point, I considered it best to let it go.

We drove for what felt like a mile of complete and total silence. Everyone was thinking about how awful the circumstances were, it seemed. Our lives had just gotten flipped upside down by all of this, and now we had to deal with it. I couldn't say there was really a fault in it. I never subscribed to the theory that eventually resurfaced that what was bound to happen, would happen, but I didn't chalk it up to any one such thing, either. It was a collage of events happening one after another that caused it, and like a stream, they all converged into one point.

"Shit!" Sheriff Keller cursed, looking ahead.

Everybody in the back peeked out from behind the front seats to get a good look out of the windshield since it was the only one not covered in undead remains.

"Dear lord, Arch, is that your dad's car?" I covered my mouth, shaking, sickened to my core to see the man who took care of me when my own father couldn't, dead.

Archie leaned back in his seat, absolutely mortified and destroyed. All the color was visibly gone from his face. Never had I ever seen him this upset; his facades usually blockaded his emotions. The last time he even got close was when he didn't make the middle school football team. I tried to cheer him up by going to Pop's, but he just moped all day. I can't even remember how he recovered, but it probably had something to do with the man in the burning car in front of us.

"That's not all, look!" Veronica pointed at the buildup of cars who had all wrecked trying to get out of Riverdale as fast as possible. Archie's father was just one of many.

Betty searched the wreckage with hasty eyes, trying to find her parents' cars. It appeared she wasn't sure if she saw them or not. She hunched and held her arms as if she was trying to hug herself. A twinge of guilt for arguing with her washed over me, and I reached over to hug her, pulling her close to me. Though I wasn't into invasion of personal space, I had to let her sob on my chest else I truly risked becoming the biggest asshole in the universe.

They say when your life flashes before your eyes, you see a white light first. We all saw a white mustang.

The car charged at us from the left side, full force, speeding into Sheriff Keller. Our police car was sent spinning, and everyone was either holding onto their seats, or me as the case was with Joaquin and Betty. The mustang didn't stop it's forward motion, the inertia being too much, and went over a rail and down into Sweetwater River. Funny how all our tragedies seemed to be starting there. To this day, I still wonder who was driving that car and why they felt the need to go that damn fast.

Breathing heavily, I meekly pushed Betty and Joaquin off of me, previously struggling in their fearful clutches. They just sat back, stunned, but not at me. They were staring at Sheriff Keller.

He was dead. The impact of the mustang must have been the culprit.

Kevin held his father's immobile hand in his own, voice cracking as he was unable to speak. He tried frantically to wipe the tears from his eyes only for them to be replenished seconds later. His silent cries soon turned into violent sobs.

"Hey, Kevin, everything will be alright." Archie gave him an unsure smile. "We'll get out of this, alright?"

Kevin nodded solemnly. He took a deep breath and exited the car as quickly as he could, taking the shotgun with him. We took that as our nod to get out as well.

I couldn't take two steps before Betty pulled me into a death grip filled to the brim with harsh wails. It honestly startled me that these were considered human noises. I tried to return the hug, but the position at which she did it was too awkward for me to stretch around her. The most I could do was stroke her back affectionately.

Archie vented his frustration by pitching rocks and rubble off of the cliff leading down to the river. Cursing as he did it, he eventually broke down with Veronica and Joaquin there to console him.

Catching my eyes, Kevin strode over to the rail where the car had plummeted. The way he held his shotgun, the barrels pointed under his chin, made me scream out, running after him. I tackled him to the ground, trying to wrestle the gun away from him. Anger and fear muddled my mind and I, at one point, couldn't tell whether I was angry that he was taking the easy way out, or scared that he would do it and leave us all behind. Betty came to help, and once I got the shotgun from him, she pulled me off before he could snatch it back.

"What the hell were you thinking? Taking your own life isn't going to help anything!" I shouted at him as Betty ran to pull him away from the edge.

"How would you feel if you just lost everything you had?" Kevin furrowed his brows over red, puffy eyes.

"You've still got us, not everything is gone." Betty tried to smile.

"And what lot you all are. I could've seen him again." Kevin tousled his hair, peering away from our eyes.

Archie and Veronica rushed towards us, looks of worry planted on their faces. Archie held Kevin by the shoulders and walked away with him. I didn't really pay any mind to where they were going because Veronica had snapped her fingers for my attention.

"What were you thinking? You didn't have to fight him for the gun! Words would've worked just fine!" Veronica chastised, flipping my crown-beanie off my head.

I forcefully shoved my hands in my pockets, fidgeting with the lighter within. "Oh really? And what if it didn't work? What if he killed himself anyway?" I asked distractedly.

"You could've gotten killed! He could've misfired, Jughead!" Betty waved her arms worriedly.

"I highly doubt that. He didn't want my life, and I'd imagine he knows how to handle a gun seeing who is father is." I shrugged. Then, I looked at the police car, hearing myself. " _Was_. Seeing who his father _was_."

Veronica strutted towards the immense pile-up of cars. Not only were there too many to really attempt to walk through or hop over, but also many of the undead surrounded them. It was the biggest deathtrap, and it was also the only way out of Riverdale unless you liked hiking through woods for miles on end.

"We're trapped. What're we gonna do?" Veronica turned back to us.

"I think we should head for the tracks, wait for an open train cart." I suggested with mild annoyance, having to kneel down to pick my beanie back up.

"I think we should try to find a cure," Betty said.

"And what good would that do?" I squinted, crossing my arms. I gestured to the death trap ahead. "How would we spread it? And besides, these—these things?—they're dead. They're not coming back. Whatever caused this, killed them and brought them back to life as mindless beings to walk the earth. Nothing we can do is going to make things any better. We should just be lucky that it's just contained here in Riverdale."

"So what? Are we just supposed to stay here with these things roaming around until someone comes to rescue us?" Betty asked. "Sounds like a great plan!" she exclaimed sarcastically.

I held up a finger. "First off, I have a monopoly on all of the sarcasm here; second, it's the only plan; third, I haven't seen you come up with one yet, princess."

Veronica glared at me with a gross disliking through my argument with Betty. She snatched my crown-beanie off, throwing it to the ground beside her. "Don't act like you're such a king, Forsythe." she stared at me with belittling eyes.

My upper lip curled into a scowl, watching as she tarnished my one prized possession, the one thing that made me feel higher than who I actually was.

It was now that I saw how dysfunctional we all really were. The chances of us all living through the apocalypse were minuscule at best. I had to take the edge off of the inevitable somehow.

I hurriedly opened the police car and grabbed my bag, sitting down once it was in my hands. I was saving its contents for a moment like this. Tossing out the Twinkies, alcohol, and knife, I was left with the packet and the bandages. With that lighter in my pocket, I began drifting off towards nirvana. Bliss.

Betty stomped towards me and pulled me up to my feet. I spat out the rolled up bandage from the force. With her left hand clutching my shirt, she used the right to smack me into the police car.

"You can't do this now! We need to focus! How are we going to survive this thing, and you're over here getting higher than a kite?" Betty screeched. Though she took such a holier-than-thou tone, I knew she was really just worried.

I took a deep breath and sighed, my lips curling into a smile which bore the traces of a smirk. "Just give me this one, Bets, and I won't do it again." I needed a settlement.

Betty reluctantly gave the rolled-up bandage back to me. I nodded a thanks. With it hanging out of my mouth, I began gathering up everything I had thrown out of the bag with her help. She threw it over her shoulders, carrying it on her back like it was meant to be.

Archie and Kevin returned to us. Joaquin walked with them, so I assumed he must have joined whatever discussion they were having.

"So where are we headed?" Archie asked Betty, noticing the rings above my head.

"The closest shelter around here is Pop's." she pointed away from the major wreckage and back towards town.

"We need to head there, then." Archie commanded.

* * *

 _Author's Note: Yes, Jughead is doing exactly what you think he is. I just don't know if saying it is within_ _the T Rating._

 _im kind of starting to wish I didn't break bughead up because they seem to be the popular pair? But I'd rather be the break from what's popular than go with the flow, I think._


	5. The Walking Dead

_Author's Note: ok so this is where the long chapters kind of disappear. Now it's sort of short but it's not My Immortal levels of short, more like short for my usual amount._

 _listen, a lot of things happened in my outline and I'm running out of famous movies and games to name the chapters after_

 _also I decided to update this Friday's as well because if it was just Monday's, good lord this fic would never be finished and probably forgotten._

 _and reviews would be really helpful to tell me what you think about the story so I can make it more enjoyable jfyi_

* * *

In the face of danger and death, it's hard to remain positive against all odds. That's why I appreciate Archie a lot. Even though we were being chased at every turn by the dead, he managed to keep his cool. I know it's just another one of his facades, but I can't help but admire how he can keep it up.

At one point, as we were trekking down to Pop Tate's Chock'lit Shoppe, a zombie grabbed him by the neck of his letterman jacket, but he coolly pointed his gun backwards and blew its brains out. If his hair wasn't red already, it was now. We were so stunned at his ability to defend himself so easily.

Veronica just laughed when it happened instead of being in shock and awe like the rest of us. "You know," she said, "he was completely freaked out when he had to fight one off of me the first time. I guess after shooting five muertos, it's just like instinct." she chuckled at her own joke.

When Archie walked up beside me, I smirked up at him, removing the rolled-up bandage from my mouth. "Geez, Arch, how'd you become so hardened?" I asked, blowing a puff of smoke.

"What do you mean? I was scared out of my mind. Didn't you see the sheer terror in my eyes?" Archie snorted, laughing at my question. He turned to the rest of the group. "Did you guys really think that was cool?"

I bit my lip, looking down at the road we walked on and kind of smiling. Even with the facades up, Archie was still the jovial klutz he always was. Or maybe that _was_ his facade. If that was the case, then I suppose I never truly have known him.

All of us had our moments in the sun. Veronica was a master at smacking the brains out of what she called "muertos" with her dad's baseball bat. Betty had the most unconventional weapon, my bag, but she slung it around like a pro, nailing zombies in the face multiple times. Kevin sniped zombies as if he'd been hunting them all his life instead of the deer and rabbit he actually had. Joaquin had created a makeshift shiv and together, we made the best knifers the world's ever seen. I missed most of the time due to my altered mind state, but I always got my knife in the head of a zombie and not someone actually alive, at least.

Or were they really alive? The whole trip to Pop Tate's Chock'lit Shoppe, all I could think about was the definition of alive. Every time my thought trailed somewhere else, I was brought back to the same topic. Did zombies qualify as being alive? Sometimes I came to the conclusion that they did, other times not. I began to second-guess a lot of things, but the rest of the group were always there to snap me back into reality.

We arrived at Pop's long before the sun could rise. The neon sign informing us of our location illuminated the dead crowded around the entrance in cyan. Though we had some good—but not unlimited—firepower, and amazing close combat weapons, it wouldn't be enough to defeat a whole horde.

"Hey, Juggie, why don't you give that up?" Betty asked, nudging my shoulder as I relit the bandage. She clearly wanted to throw it and light everything on fire.

"You'll have to pry it from my cold, dead hands." I muttered, shoving it back in my jacket pocket.

"There's no need to be so formal," Veronica said, strutting over to me. "Try, 'We need the weed-lighter or you're gonna see this baseball bat in your face.'" she threatened as she tapped a baseball bat in her hand.

Teeth clenched to the ever-so slowly disintegrating bandage, I removed my wood-cutting knife from inside my jacket. "How about you smash my brains in, I cut your jugular, and then Betty picks up the lighter over our dead bodies, hmm?"

"I thought high people were fun." Kevin commented as an aside that wasn't so quiet to Joaquin who agreed silently.

Archie split us up with an uneasy grin. He grabbed our weapons and held them above his head where he knew we couldn't reach.

"Let's not resort to fighting this early." he laughed awkwardly. "I'm sure we can think of a better idea."

"Yeah, how were we supposed to get in through the fire? Was the building supposed to _not_ burn? Explain that to me." I crossed my arms and glared at Veronica.

"We'll have to clear a path somehow." Betty mused, walking away from the group. She got that kind of "a-ha" face that made you wonder who was really the high one. "If we can get the sign to fall down, we can crush most of them." she said, pointing to the neon sign above the door.

"That's iconic! You can't just destroy Pop's like that," I said, disappointed. What also disappointed me at that moment was my disappearing bandage. It was mere ash in my hand. I blew large bouts of smoke through my nose sadly.

"It's looking like the only choice we have," Archie said. He stared up at the sign and rubbed his chin, pondering on a way to get it to fall. "Any suggestions on how to take it down?"

"It's suspended by some supports. I think if we got them cut, we could bring it down." Joaquin noted, circling the shop from a safe distance.

"I could throw my knife." I suggested, looking up at my knife in Archie's hand which, through bloodshot eyes appeared to be spinning on its own along with the sky.

"Yeah, let's see how far that goes." Veronica sarcastically nodded. "When a zombie comes trudging over and mauls you because it heard the clang of a shortly-thrown knife, I hope your last words are 'you told me so', because I told you so!" she pointed aggressively at the ground as if I was beneath it.

Quickly, I jumped up, snatched my knife from Archie's hand, skipped over to the side of the sign, and threw my knife as hard as I could. Blade-side down, it landed on one of the zombie's heads, taking it out. The action got the attention of the zombies, and they slowly made their way towards me. But, for the life of me, I didn't know why. I was completely unfazed. Behind me, Archie and Veronica screamed at me, but at the time I had no idea why.

"Why did you do that?" Veronica yelled, putting all of her air into her words. Archie couldn't even speak, he just crouched with his hands on his temples.

"I thought you told me so!" I shrugged, looking between them and the dead sluggishly approaching.

"We expressly told you not to!" Veronica pushed up her hair frustratedly.

I stared ahead at the walking dead, stepping back. I froze, confronted by them with no weapon. I was pretty much up Sweetwater River without a paddle. Snapping me back into reality, Archie took out his handgun and popped a cap in the zombie a breath away from me. I took this as my cue to run.

Kevin trotted past the following zombies to set up and take aim at one of the neon sign's supports. When the first shot was fired, the sign leaned over with a large creak, but did not fall. Kevin tried to escape the clutches of the dead again, but found himself caught by the shoulder. He attempted to fight it off with the butt of the shotgun, but was held by a tight grip. It was only narrowly that he avoided his flesh becoming torn into because Joaquin rushed to his aid, sinking his shiv into the zombie's neck.

Since all Archie could do was stand and stare, I took it upon myself to grab his handgun. Running and almost tripping over my own small weight, I made it to the other support.

My vision became extremely hazy as the effects of my misdemeanor kicked in completely. But never had I ever gotten so high with only one that I hallucinated. I had absolutely no idea what was going on. In fact, I'm pretty sure there were three neon signs that night. Taking the risk, I unsteadily shot three times right in the middle of my hallucinations, and man, the feeling of euphoria that I got when that sign came down with a crash was astounding.

Beneath the sign reading, "Pop Tate's Chock'lit Shoppe", some of the dead squirmed and others remained still. Blood and guts made a path like a red carpet to the door. I'm pretty sure one guy's bone dust covered one of the windows when the sign came down.

"Jug! How in the world did you do that?" Archie laughed, shocked that I had been able to shoot down the support against all odds.

I tittered like a school girl in the boys' locker room. "What I'd like to know is you did what you did." I slurred, waving the gun around. "You basically saved my life."

I fell into Archie's arm as he stumbled to catch me before I could fall. He chuckled unsurely. He turned to the rest of the group with a serious look. "We need to get in as soon as possible."

It was at that point that I must have fallen under, because when I opened my eyes next, the sun was high in the sky and no longer had my mental state remained at such a height. Instead, it felt as if someone was pounding on my head at all times, and doing anything too fast just made it worse. So, I laid on my back in one of the booths, staring up at the cerulean ceiling. I had no idea what had happened the night previous, and something told me I didn't want to. Later, Archie and the rest clued me in as to what all went on that night.

Betty soon came into my vision as she sat across from me with a cup in her hands. I assumed it was probably coffee. She seemed to have been incredibly chilled out for everything that had just happened.

"Juggie, do you think you could come over here and pinch me, see if I'm dreaming?" Betty asked, staring deeply into her coffee as if she was trying to get a fortune from it.

"Where's Archie and the rest of the guys?" I turned onto my side to face her.

"Archie and Kevin went out to go and find Sheriff Keller's office. I think they stopped at the local pharmacy though. They're hoping they might find some ammo and better weapons. Veronica and Joaquin are in the kitchen, cooking up a storm." Betty explained.

"I'm guessing Mr. Tate didn't make it." I propped my head up on my knuckles. I studied Betty's dismayed expression which told me that my assumption was true. I tried to focus on better things. Like food. Food was great. I was starving.

Veronica brought out a plate of hotcakes. "I'm pretty sure I burnt them on the bottom, but they are probably edible at least." The blonde placed her hands directly over Veronica's, and for a split second it seemed like she would drop them. I tensed, scared for the pancakes. With a few awkward glance exchanges, Betty received her pancakes successfully.

"You're going to share, right?" I asked cheekily, staring at the breakfast items with a hunger I've never known despite my long history with the stashes of substances responsible for my rough hangover.

"Afraid not." Betty took the first bite of the pancakes, leaving me high and dry.

"You're evil." I moaned. She didn't even coat them with nature's greatest gift, maple syrup. I gestured to the naked pancakes. "You haven't even put syrup on them, how can you just eat them raw like that?"

"Jug, you're the only one who actually eats that syrup with those new ingredients the Blossom's started pumping out. I mean, who even knows what's in it? I think you better focus on repenting for what all you did yesterday," Betty said with her mouth full. Even I was above that.

"I'm not sure what I did." I shrugged, drawing a blank check.

"You almost got Kevin killed when you threw that knife—" she fished it out of the backpack beside her and slid it over to me "—and then you almost got him killed when you tried to wrestle that gun from him. Not to mention, you put everybody's lives in danger when you went to investigate the South Side."

"So what I'm hearing is, I need to go give a very heartfelt apology to Kevin?" I raised a brow.

"I'm just saying, you need to make up for what you did." Betty gave a small smile.

"I can't exactly do that while you're over here noshing, taunting _me_ , who's running on an empty tank, Bets." I cried.

When she gave me silence as a reply, I groaned. Looking up to the ceiling, I put my hands up in prayer. I prayed for burgers and fries or sweet release. There was no in-between.

Veronica appeared over the counter with a worried expression. It seemed that she couldn't look at Betty, but that was all the time, this was nothing to worry about. "Do either of you see Archie or Kevin through the windows? I know it's been at least an hour." she asked.

"We may have to go after them." Betty informed her. Veronica nodded and disappeared through a door to the kitchen.

"I'm not leaving until I get something, anything, to eat." I clasped my hands, looking straight into her eyes as if staring her down would get me somewhere.

"Well, if it makes you feel any better..." Betty sighed. She hoisted my backpack—which she pretty much now claimed—up onto the table. Rummaging through it, she produced my prized crown-beanie. "I managed to hold onto it. I forgot I had it."

Thanking her, I placed the hat back on my head where it belonged. I noticed one piece of content was missing from the bag, however.

"You trashed my stash, didn't you?" I bit my cheeks, disappointed that I really did have to hold my end of the bargain up on that one. Inwardly, I prayed that I really didn't have to.

Shocking me, she shook her head. "Check under your hat." she smiled daintily. I'm pretty sure I looked like the happiest person in the world at that moment.

Answering my prayers further, Joaquin arrived at our table with a plate full of fresh, hot, and steaming fries. I had never seen anything looking that golden and amazing in my life.

"I'm going to assume that sharing the fries is a no-go?" Betty giggled. The way she gazed into my eyes, entranced, I knew she was becoming attached again. Dating her was the emotional rollercoaster that I just didn't need in the zombie apocalypse, so I quickly looked away.

"You know me so well," I said, rubbing my hands together and staring hungrily at the plate of fries in front of me.

If we had known what was about to come running through the front door of the restaurant that morning, I don't think we would've been as relaxed.

* * *

 _Author's Note: so you're on chapter five_

 _and you're thinking_

 _no ones dead yet that isn't an adult_

 _this is great_

 _JUST YOU WAIT UNTIL NEXT CHAPTER_


	6. Zombies Ate My Neighbors!

_Author's Note: my favorite trope in FanFiction is saying you don't own the source material. Like, yeah you would hope not on a site called FanFiction which hosts fanfiction._

 _That being said, I'd like to state that this is completely separate from the actual_ Afterlife With Archie _series and I'm not going by the comics, just the show. There will be references and nods from what I_ do _know of it, but that's it. The only thing I based this story on is the premise of the zombie apocalypse, hence the title of_ Afterlife _._

* * *

Sitting in Pop Tate's Chocklit Shoppe was one of my favorite pastimes. Lounging in the red leather seats, shoveling burgers and fries in my mouth like I had never eaten anything as amazing, and moving my hands across my laptop's keyboard, it was the life. I didn't even have money, Pop just took care of me like I was his own son.

That was the thing about Riverdale. Even if you weren't their kid, you were always welcome in somebody's home. There was a small exception with the Blossom's versus the Cooper's, but other than, the unspoken rule applied. Nowhere was it more prevalent than in Fred Andrews.

Fred took me in just like I was just Archie's long lost sibling—not that I would ever consider Archie that even if _he_ did. He let me stay nights when I wasn't sure if I could really go home, or even have a home. During the Jason Blossom investigation, I stayed with him until my father decided to rear his ugly head and take me back. Despite me being offered to be put in a foster family's home, Fred still felt it was his duty to keep me with him. It was a debt I've never been able to return because of his early demise. It kind of made me wish I never ignored his calls for me to come back that fateful morning.

Day three of the Riverdale microcosm apocalypse and tensions were dropped, surprisingly. I was enjoying the fresh fries that Joaquin had brought me(even with the fact that he didn't salt them enough), and Betty was running her mouth about how we'd come back in the future after we left and rebuild Riverdale from the ground up. It was a nice sentiment filled with detailed descriptions of new businesses and families springing up, including our own. Good to know she still adored me. Though she didn't state her kids as having my last name directly, I could put two and two together if she hoped we would be living with each other.

All of her fantasies came crashing down when the door to the shoppe burst open. I soon began to wonder why it wasn't boarded up or at least barricaded.

Betty and I stood with questioning expressions, abruptly being cut off from our imaginations. Veronica and Joaquin came out of the woodworks to lay their eyes on the new visitor.

Reggie Mantle stared me straight in the face, his eyes bloodshot, and his breathing frantic. His skin was veiny and pale, but he just looked like someone who had been doing deals with the South Side, not like one of the zombies on the outside. He had us all fooled.

"Dude, are you okay?" I asked, taking hesitant steps towards him. I kept my wood-cutting knife at bay for now.

No response was given, instead a series of inhuman grunts. Now, my knife was spinning in my hands and ready for use. There was something wrong with him, but he didn't look quite dead, so I that's why I didn't immediately jam the hook end of the tool into the jock's skull. That is, until he stole a look at Betty who was paralyzed with fear. When he pushed me aside to grab her, I tackled him to the ground, knife to his neck.

"What's the matter, man? Why're you acting so crazy?" I shouted to no avail. There was no way this idiot heard me.

The brute circle threw me onto the floor where I slid just under the jukebox, making it fall on top of me. Under the weight of the music machine, my struggles to get up must have pushed one of its buttons because I'm pretty sure I was done hallucinating, and even then, "I Wish" by Stevie Wonder wouldn't be my first choice. Nevertheless, I rolled out from under it, muffling all sound it produced as it smacked down with a bang.

While I was detained, Joaquin hopped over the bar and got onto Reggie's shoulders, driving him into the table. He was thrown off, and was sent flying back over the bar again. Veronica circled around the counter with her baseball bat and swung at Reggie's gut, knocking him onto his back with a thud. You could tell she was itching to get into the fight. Joaquin rose to his feet slowly, massaging his head, and made his way over to Veronica.

Once I was freed from the jukebox's grasp, I hobbled over to Reggie who was being held down by Joaquin and Veronica. Hissing from the pain of moving my back, I knelt down beside him.

"I'm going to pitch a guess and say this man is officially a zombie." I raised a brow towards Joaquin who nodded in agreement.

What none of us expected at that point was for the guy to start speaking.

"You... are... one... of... us..." he said in-between deep gasps. It didn't sound like he was breathless, just that he didn't know how to put words together.

We didn't even know who he was talking about, and we didn't find out because Joaquin buried his shiv in Reggie's brains. He had the nerve to twist it, too, down into his nose, practically splitting the guy's head wide open. His brain looked like it was covered in some kind of dust or fungus, oddly enough. I guessed that was just a side effect of being a zombie. Veronica stood hastily, hand to her mouth. She quickly ran to the bathroom.

I backhanded the Serpent, appalled at the hasty behavior. "What the hell did you do that for?" I shouted at him.

"I was just scared! I don't know!" Joaquin cried out, clutching his hair.

I made my theories immediately, but I couldn't voice them, else I risked Betty and Veronica taking the direct and rash action like they were prone to. So, I kept quiet, biting my lip and biding my time. I couldn't help, though, but give a knowing look to Veronica when she came back.

"He could've been alive." Veronica looked down at the floor uncomfortably, wrapping her arms around herself and keeping away from the body. She muttered the same sentence to herself, over and over.

Betty still sat where she was, but now she brought her knees to her chin, probably traumatized by the whole event.

I massaged my temples, trying to think the whole thing through. I couldn't believe Joaquin just showed no mercy like that. He seemed like the softest of the Serpents, including me. For him to just up and kill somebody who wasn't already dead per se really put our entire group on edge.

"I can't take this, we need to go find Archie," Veronica said. She paced in front of the door.

"They could be anywhere and could have taken any route." I kindly reminded her.

"We could split up." Betty suggested with an innocent shrug.

"That's how people get killed in the movies." I smirked.

"I think we should do it. All in favor?" Veronica raised her hand high above her head. I was the only one besides Reggie not to do the same. It was decided, then

Veronica and Betty didn't even have to speak to be declared a team, so that left me with Joaquin. I had no choice in the matter, neither of the girls were about to travel anywhere with a murderer, it seemed. They claimed each other the minute we went along with the plan.

Due to my house being on the way from Pop's, I knew the west route very well. Sheriff Keller's was somewhere in-between. Betty's parents always shopped at the local pharmacy on the east route, so she and Veronica took that one. It worked very well for us.

Before she departed, Betty kissed me on the cheek and went on her way. I rubbed the warm space and felt nothing but the heat it left. Deep inside, I knew we wouldn't be able to repair our relationship the third time, I just wondered if she knew that. Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me. You should know not to get fooled the third time.

Joaquin and I were set down on our path. On our way, we spotted a few drifters, but the eerie part wasn't all the dead, it was just how vacant everything was. Buildings just didn't look the same without their usual glow of light. At some point though, I did see a streetlight that hadn't been turned off and some zombies crowded around it like moths. It was an odd sight that made me laugh.

Out of the blue, Joaquin ran at full speed to a trash can. I was quite confused until I saw him basically spitting up his innards.

"Are you okay?" I asked, rushing to his side. "We're almost there."

"I've been sick since yesterday, but I think I'll be alright." he wiped a cold sweat from his forehead. It was then that I noticed how pale he was.

"I really hope Archie gets back with those supplies." I mumbled, putting my arm around Joaquin's shoulders and leading him.

"Do you think Kevin's alright?" Joaquin asked, his voice cracking.

"I'm sure he is." I nodded.

We arrived at our destination without much trouble. It seemed though, that someone had already been there because it looked like everything had been cleaned out except for a laptop which I reminded myself to pick up. There were no weapons or any kind of supplies whatsoever.

"You don't think someone came here before Kevin and Archie, do you? Maybe they're already here." Joaquin tugged at the ends of his hair, searching the office area frantically.

There were only three rooms, a couple of offices and a bathroom. Seeing as we searched them all, I really wanted to know where someone would honestly be hiding. I sent a sneer Joaquin's way which I hope informed him of my opinion.

Still, I couldn't help but get the nagging feeling that someone else did clear it out before Archie and Kevin could get to it. The papers were all in a pile, the bathroom didn't even have toilet paper, and all the windows were boarded up. We were there by sunset, so there was no telling what went on. I bit my lip, losing myself in my thoughts as I stared at the lamp on Sheriff Keller's desk.

The bell at the top of the door rang, making Joaquin jump so high, I was sure he would reach the ceiling at this rate. I whipped around and brought forth my knife from my jacket. Sidling against the wall, I slowly but surely made my way towards the door. My face lit up when I saw Archie's flaming red hair walk through.

"Damn, I thought you'd never get here." I clutched my heart with relief through my shirt which was blood-soaked by now.

"Kevin and I stayed here for a good hour trying to pack everything in the bags we got from the pharmacy. We just now dropped them off at Pop's." Archie pointed behind him. "Kevin's over there with them."

"So where's Betty and Veronica?" I asked.

Archie hesitated before answering. "Veronica's with Kevin." he rubbed the back of his neck.

My heart dropped. I furrowed my brows and chuckled half-heartedly. My mind was quickly connecting the dots no matter how hard I tried not to. "Arch, where's Betty?"

Archie was bitterly silent.

I stepped over and pushed him back, furious. I kept pushing him until he hit the door and I could finally enunciate my pain. "Archie Andrews, where the hell is Betty?" I screamed, my cheeks red from doing so.

Archie pushed his hair back and his smile dropped. He held his breath for a long time. "She's gone, Jug. She's gone." he breathed.

"What happened to her?" I bit down on my lip to stop myself from turning on the waterworks. Blood began trickling down my chin.

"Veronica said she was hit in the head by someone or something, and Betty was carried off. She doesn't know if– if it was a zombie horde or– or some kind of group. She just remembers seeing multiple people." Archie explained, taking a seat at the door. He rubbed his eyes forcefully. "She said she had no idea if she was still alive or not." his voice was cracking and he could speak between harsh sobs.

A little hope rose in my chest at the word "alive". Every piece of me needed Betty to be alive or else I would completely shatter under the pressure of the outstanding guilt I still carried with me for breaking her heart. She was such a happy person, and for the world to take it away so soon was like a stab in the heart.

"She was my girlfriend..." I murmured, looking down at Archie. A calm had rushed over me.

"She was my neighbor..." Archie looked up at me with puppy dog eyes. I couldn't resist, and sat down beside him, leaning on his broad shoulders.

"This is all happening so fast," I said. "But we have to go find her."

"What can we do? We have no leads. Maybe we should try to find some kind of clue as to what to do about these zombies. Find out more about them." Archie shrugged. "She said that the Serpents carried her off—that's what she thought. She saw the jackets, she said, and heard someone other than Betty talking. She's really convinced. I feel the same way, but I think we need to find out more about these zombies before we do anything."

"You know what? For once, I'm on board." I raised a brow, a fury building inside me after the calm. "I want to know what caused all this to tear our lives apart."

And so, along with the laptop and Joaquin, we departed for Pop's once more.

* * *

 _Author's Note: it begins_

 _what begins, you may ask?_

 _to which I answer, the **deadening**_

 _((Cue the horror movie music))_

 _yeah, so almost every chapter from here on out, someone is dying_


	7. The Evil Dead

_Author's Note: Despite the title, no, no severed hands will be fought in this chapter. You have been warned._

 _Early update bc I don't know when I'll get internet tomorrow since I'll be on the road and Fanfiction doesn't load well with bad internet anyway XD_

 _also long chapter incoming but crap goes down, so tune in_

* * *

Two weeks.

It had been merely two weeks and already tensions were getting high and relationships were being strained.

We didn't notice it at first, but the internet and phone lines to Riverdale had been cut. No one thought to check because we were always too busy running for our lives or trying to find shelter. It was as if the outside world was completely disowning us.

Occasionally we all had a sort of family dinner where we talked about the crazy stuff that had happened in our past lives—the good times. They all had an ending which was sort of sour as we slowly came to the realization that we would never get those times back.

In our shelter at Pop's, Archie was pretty much going stir crazy. He often went out just to take his mind off of things, but came back with nasty bruises and cuts where he came across the dead one too many times. Luckily, he was never bitten or anything like that. You could tell in the bottomless ocean of his blue-green eyes that he was still hurt by Betty's disappearance and his father's death, but not bringing it up was an unspoken rule. Letting him stay happy in his own little world contented us.

Veronica wasn't faring much better. Without her phone, she had no way to contact her mother. She had no idea if she was okay or not, and the thought alone was eating away at her slowly. There were times when she's just mutter to herself. A lot of the time, you'd just wake up in the middle of the night to hear her talking to herself in an assuring way. It sounded paranoid to the others, but I had sense enough to realize that this was her coping mechanism.

And ever since Reggie's horrible break-in, every time Archie walked in the door, she straight-up attacked(that was another reason for Archie's bruises and cuts). So thank god that Archie took Kevin's shotgun and had disposed of his own handgun. Though, to be fair, he did give the gun to Veronica. Sometimes I wondered how neither had been filled with bullet holes. They broke up eventually.

Personally, I tried to stay in my corner, eating or drinking whatever I could find to take or warm up from the storage room. It was kind of like being back at Pop's in the old days; I even had my laptop to write on. The only exception was that I was allowed to smoke inside which, admittedly, caused my eyes to turn bloodshot and my chest and neck area to become somewhat veiny.

We all noticed the drop in pill counts. When Archie and Kevin went to the pharmacy, they cleaned it out. There were piles of bottles, and for some of them to be missing was absurd because no one really needed to take anything except for Betty who wasn't even there at the time. All I needed was the stash under my hat. There was a rumor that spread without the use of the mouth. We all just thought that it was Joaquin as none of us really knew him and knew nothing of his medical needs.

Kevin and Joaquin mostly kept to themselves. We all knew they were doing dirty deeds in the storage room, but there was no need to point it out. It was their business and we stayed out of it. However, we couldn't help but notice and inquire when their romance suddenly took a downfall.

One night, I spotted Kevin rummaging through the cabinets in the storage room. He was muttering something about alcohol, and quite frankly, I would've stayed out of his business if it weren't for the fact that I just had a smoke and was craving something to drink for my dry mouth.

"What's up, Keller?" I greeted and spooked him. Kevin whipped around, taken aback at the volume of my voice.

"Oh, Jughead. I thought you fell asleep at your computer." Kevin breathed a sigh of relief as he clutched his heart. "I was just looking for something to drink."

"Same here." I inspected the cabinets closely. They were filled to the brim with many sodas. "There's a lot to choose from. Couldn't find your favorite?"

"I was thinking of having a root beer without the root." Kevin bit his cheeks and blushed.

"Mm, well, I'm sure Pop's wouldn't be the kind of guy to sell that. I'm afraid you're barking up the wrong tree, Keller." I smirked, grabbing a liter of Coke from its place among the rest of the sodas. It was at the back and soon the other sodas came cascading down. I was completely oblivious to this, but Kevin was appropriately startled.

I was ready to go back to my station when Kevin called me back. I turned my head and raised a brow, curious. He never really talked to me one-on-one and I didn't see why he would start now.

"Have you and uh..." he trailed off before snapping his fingers quickly, trying to remember a name. It was fake though, I could tell he knew exactly who he meant to say by the smirk planted on his face. However, it seemed more like he just didn't want to bring them up more than anything. "Betty! ... ever had any problems where someone wasn't telling the other the truth?"

Ignoring his little falsehood, I nodded. "Yeah, she invited me to a party and didn't tell me that my dad was coming. You were there," I said, unscrewing the lid of the Coke.

"Right, right..." Kevin shook his head, trying to remember. "Listen, Joaquin's been weird. Do you know anything about him?"

"Depends. What kind of info do you need?" I asked. I had actually known him for a long time before Kevin even began dating him. My father always tried to set us up on play dates when we were younger, but I gravitated more towards Archie, leaving him far behind.

"What was he like when you rescued him?" Kevin asked.

"He was extremely skittish, didn't want to leave the safety of the house, and was somehow able to fight against zombies without a weapon." I recounted with ease, taking a long swallow of the Coke as a prize for remembering. A good fifth of it was now gone.

"He fought them without a weapon? Doesn't that tell you something?" Kevin scoffed.

"Yep. But that's none of my business," I said, taking another swig of the soda.

I left the storage room and actually got to the counter before being called back into the closet by Kevin. I groaned.

"I would pour all of this down your back, but I'm going to drink it." I crinkled my nose in agitation. I ignored his inquisition of "all of it" to speak further. "Just know that you'll be finding a cockroach underneath your pillow tomorrow morning."

"I'll trade your knowledge for something about Betty." Kevin made a proposal, his arms crossed.

"I only have speculation. If you know something about Betty, it's not just my business. Archie and Veronica need to know too." I reasoned.

"Yeah, well I need what you know. You were there, Jughead. You saw him that day." Kevin opened his arms as if it should've been obvious to me.

"Fuck off with this. Don't be an self-centered ass, Keller." I spat. I shuffled away.

"Good luck trying to turn Archie!" he called out to me as I walked back to my seat.

But I wasn't the only one who had noticed the problems between Kevin and Joaquin. We all met in a booth the next morning.

"What's going on with you two?" Veronica asked Kevin, finally fed up with the silent glares the guys were giving each other.

Kevin smirked at Joaquin who crossed his arms and nervously sunk in his booth. The brunette rested his chin on his knuckles and widened his smile. He was about to drop the biggest secret the Serpent had been keeping, and everyone sitting across from him knew it. That's why Joaquin finally gave in and clued us all in to his confession.

"I was bitten two weeks ago." Joaquin gave a pained sigh, staring wide-eyed out the window. "The day it all started," he elaborated.

Nobody really knew how to take it. I had it figured out since I had met him that day in my trailer, but I didn't say anything because I didn't know what it really meant. Sure, if you were bitten, maybe you turned, but who really knew for sure? There wasn't a case for it yet. Archie and Veronica jumped to the conclusion I knew they would.

Veronica stood so fast that her hair bobbed up and down from the force. "You can't be here! You might turn!" she exclaimed, extremely distraught.

"We don't know that for sure." I held up a hand, meaning for her to calm down. Joaquin had gotten spooked by her reaction, and Kevin had a look of ambivalence, somewhere between anger at her and anger at him.

"Jughead, if this thing that causes zombie-ism or whatever is some kind of disease, you know it spreads by the transfer of bodily fluids into the bloodstream." Archie postulated.

"How do we know it's a disease and not just some kind of magic spell?" Veronica pointed out. I gave her a sarcastic nod.

"I just don't know what would possess you to keep it a secret like this." Kevin chastised Joaquin.

"If I told any of you, I'd be out on the streets before I could even blink." Joaquin argued, suddenly gaining some backbone. He gave a pained cry. "I couldn't lose you, Preppy." Joaquin buried his face in Kevin's shoulder. The brunette now appeared absolutely miserable.

"I wouldn't have thrown you out of the group, Joaquin. Calm down." I rolled my eyes. If I explained why, I knew Archie and Veronica probably would have actually thrown me out for knowing that he was bitten.

"It's that Serpent loyalty, right?" Kevin smiled unamusedly, his hands clasped. "If it was Betty, I'd say you'd have put her out of her misery like that—" he snapped his fingers "—and have enjoyed it too."

Before the comment, I was on good terms with Kevin to an extent. I found his presence somewhat annoying, but he was an interesting fellow and I always wanted to know what would come out of his mouth next. This comment needed to stay in his thoughts were it belonged.

I jumped onto the table and pulled Kevin from his seat, throwing him onto the ground. I stepped down beside him, held him up by his shirt, and began pummeling his face, all regrets left behind me. There was no stopping—I didn't know when to.

Archie managed to pull me off and onto his stomach. I elbowed him accidentally, causing him to let me go with groan. I crouched, studying Kevin's bemused expression. Something deep inside me told me that I needed to wail on him further—kill him even—but I quelled that feeling and took a seat next to Veronica. I had already given Kevin a swollen black eye, a cut lip, a bruised cheek, and a couple of lost teeth. Nothing more needed to be fought out.

"Do you think he's had enough, Jughead?" Archie yelled, gesturing to the poor guy on the floor with one hand and massaging a broken nose with the other. "How would you like it if your dad died, you had to find out that your significant other was bitten without him telling you, and then some guy thinks it's his duty to beat the shit out of you?"

"An asshole is an asshole, I don't give a shit what they've been through." I sneered at Kevin.

Joaquin hied to Kevin, kneeling beside him. He helped him to a standing position before having to use him to lean on.

"My god, Joaquin, are you okay?" Veronica asked. She turned to Archie. "I think he's turning into one of the muertos."

"Well, I don't know, why're you looking at me?" Archie shrugged, having absolutely no clue what to do.

With a final groan, Joaquin fell to the floor, instilling a slight panic in all of us. If he really was turning, then there was a slight danger as our guard had been dropped significantly due to the safety of our shelter and the lack of hordes recently. If he wasn't, then something was just seriously wrong with him.

Kevin flipped him over and felt his chest. By the grimace on his face, we could tell there was no heartbeat.

Veronica and I stepped out of our booths and back towards the door with Archie. We watched with anticipation as Kevin tried to revive his fallen boyfriend.

"Kevin, sweetie, maybe you should come over here with us," Veronica said urgently.

"Damnit, I think I can revive him!" Kevin yelled. He tried to do the practical mouth-to-mouth and chest-pressing methods of getting a heart to beat again. Unfortunately, it didn't seem like he was getting anywhere.

Archie disappeared surreptitiously behind the counter to grab Kevin's shotgun. Veronica and I understood this to mean that he was going to kill Joaquin right under Kevin's nose before he could even notice what was going on. By the time he returned, however, it was too late.

It all happened in a flash. Joaquin opened his eyes again, but this time they were glazed, without thought, only hunger. Kevin had no idea what to think about the situation, and for a split second, he _smiled_. He thought he had done a successful CPR. That is, until Joaquin ripped his jugular out, sending him against the table behind him with his hands on his throat. Kevin was absolutely ripped into. I couldn't watch any more of the gory spectacle. Thankfully, Archie put it to an end with two bangs of the shotgun. He could've stood to have done it a lot quicker though. I think he was just as shocked as we all were by the whole scene.

Tears slipped down Veronica's eyes as she gazed hopelessly at the two dead bodies in front of her. "I told him to get away..." she murmured to herself. She stepped away and choked back a sob. She seemed to have been thinking about something else.

"We couldn't have predicted this would happen." I reasoned.

"The both of us knew." Archie said, referring to himself and Veronica. He rubbed his neck as he looked on at the miserable scene he had to vanquish.

"Look, you two had theories that happened to be proven right. You didn't know with one-hundred percent surety that it would happen. So just..." I sighed heavily. "... don't beat yourselves up over it."

I gingerly stepped over Joaquin's legs to get a better look at the murder. Strands of flesh hung out of the Serpent's mouth, and a big gaping hole where they belonged was how I would've described Kevin's neck. In fact, it barely even looked like he had one. All you could see was his cervical spine and a bit of the skin on the back. Plus, quite a hunk of his chest was torn open by greedy hands to the point where his clavicles were jotting out. If Archie hadn't put the bullet in his brain, I'd say we would've probably been fighting the most dysfunctional zombie yet.

"How did this happen?" I mused, a large measure of guilt showing itself within me.

"Lack of information. That's why we need to do some investigation instead of waiting for the answers to come with us," Veronica said.

"I think we should start back at the graveyard, see if there was anything we missed," Archie said.

"I'll stay here. I'm not too big on graveyards myself. Besides, if there is anyone else alive, or if–" I found myself choking up "–if Betty comes back, I'll need to hold down the fort."

Veronica nodded eagerly. "Sounds like a plan. We'll just take a few supplies and we'll be right out. Keep that eye out for Betty."

Archie clapped a hand on my back. I bit my lip and looked up at him with worry. Honestly, I was nervous that they wouldn't come back, and I think he detected that.

"We'll be back before sundown, Jug." he assured me.

When they went out of that door, I was sure they wouldn't return. Not that I didn't trust Archie not to come back for me, it was just that I got a nagging feeling that at some point in this whole apocalyptic journey, that I was going to be the last one alive.

Or what if they really didn't want to come back? Was I truly that awful? It felt like everything had happened because of me. Maybe if I accompanied them to the graveyard, they wouldn't have woke the dead. Maybe if I stayed with them instead of going after Joaquin, we all would've made it out okay. Maybe if I hadn't have punched Kevin, I wouldn't look so much like the worst human being on the planet. I sighed; for, there were too many regrets to focus on the outcome of just one.

Alone with the dead bodies, I soon became fed up that they were my only company. Dragging them out of the door, I left them beside each side of the fallen sign. Hopefully, I thought, this might deter the dead from walking in since they seemed to only go after living people and not the other undead. That did raise some questions in my mind the more I thought about it. Why did they not care about me, then?

Going back inside, I looked up at the clock above the counter with fear wrapped in my heart. It had only been five minutes. I breathed a sigh of relief.

To take my mind off of everything, I stared work on this on my laptop. I managed to get two chapters done before I began to worry about Archie and Veronica again. They were the last two things besides Betty(who was lost) that I had in this apocalypse. To lose them would spell the end of my sanity.

If they really did disappear, I would be left with no one to smart off to, no one to give my sardonic advice to, no one to have a genuinely good time with no matter how snarky I was feeling that day. I would be alone.

I looked between my screen and the window often. I took an occasional puff from another rolled-up bandage. Drops of water fell onto my keyboard. Rapidly, I wiped them off for fear the electronic might short circuit. I was already worrying about power since the charger was nowhere to be found, and even then, who knew when they would cut the power lines. I rubbed my eyes, trying to stop it from happening again.

But it did.

Soon, I was leaning back in the booth, the only comfort myself, and tears flowing down my cheeks. I took up my knees to my chin and let it all out. I screamed for Archie and Veronica, but neither appeared. I sobbed for Betty.

When my eyes became sore from crying so much, I tried hard to regain my composure and lift myself from the booth. I slipped, but stood tall. Equipped with my wood-cutting knife, a couple of bags of frozen pre-cooked patties, and some medical supplies, I set out to find them.

* * *

 _Author's Note: I'm curious, do you guys think Betty's coming back or not? :) I know the answer, but I obviously can't spoil it._

 _even though this isn't a bughead story, Jughead does at least care for her and still holds a piece of their relationship in his heart._

 _also has anyone been picking up what I've been putting down on Veronica yet? Sincerely, a concerned writer_


	8. World War Z

_Author's Note: Sorta short chapter! Don't get used to it._

* * *

We thought it was a small endeavor. Turns out, after a week, that's when shit gets real.

Packing a couple bags pulled around my shoulder like backpacks and a wood-cutting knife in hand, I exited Pop's. The sign still laid before the door, but I was able to climb over it with relative ease. I expected to have a journey the same way—easy. However, I was greeted with crowds of zombies moving through the streets like there was a festival, it was lunchtime, and everyone was rushing to get in line for all the booths, except the booths were people. If that made any sense.

I darted between groups, unnoticed. I headed on the path where the pharmacy lied. A half a block through, I spotted a couple of Serpent zombies gnawing on bones beside a dead girl. She had blonde hair pulled back in a ponytail. Her body was too mutilated to tell who it was. She had seven bullet holes in her head; I could barely see that it was a face. Someone must have really wanted her to not come back to life.

Taking the back alleyway seemed to be a better idea, so I went around Pop's. Behind the restaurant, there was an inlet where Sweetwater River ran. I had to be careful not to fall in. Also, I had to be wary of stragglers who might have wandered away from the main group.

Across the way, I could see some of the dead peeking in-between trees in the forest area around the river. It made me wonder if this epidemic had truly spread beyond Riverdale. Maybe it was all over Ohio. Toledo... was it affected? It crossed my mind to try and escape to my mother and sister, but now I began to think they might not have even survived.

Then, behind one of the trees in the forest, I caught a glimpse of red hair. There was only one person I knew with red hair like that besides the Blossom's.

I cupped my hands over my mouth, shouting, "ARCHIE!" I crossed my arms and awaited a reply, or a wave at least. Nothing happened, and in fact, from a glance, it almost looked like the guy with red hair was actually one of the walking dead. I crossed my fingers, hoping that it wasn't Archie as I had previously thought.

Though I walked away and down the path, I still felt the piercing gaze the zombie was giving me. It felt like I was being stalked.

To get my mind off of the negative things, I sung "Mad World" to myself to lift my spirits. The original version, of course, much happier that way. I marched to the beat of my on voice.

Shiftily, my eyes darted over to a zombie who must have heard my discordant singing as he ambled towards me. I tripped backwards, landing on my back, heart beating in my ears, and breath suddenly gone. Its lopsided eyes caught mine, and soon I could smell the rotting stench wafting from its body. The corpse leaned over me, too close for comfort. What confused me—and I'd be lying if I said it didn't utterly terrify me—was that it did absolutely nothing. It just remained there. Brains splattered all over my face, and the zombie fell off of me and onto the gravel.

I rose to a sitting position and tried to wipe the bloody mess off with my sleeve. I squinted, for, the figure in front of me was surrounded by sunlight.

"You want to explain to me what you're doing alone out here?" It was a girl's voice.

I held up a finger for pause; my stomach growled. I removed a frozen patty from one of the bags around my shoulders and began chewing on it. It was just as bad as I imagined it to be, not that I was any kind of food connoisseur. I would rather have gotten out a Twinkie as bad as they were, but Archie ate most of them, and Betty still had the rest in the bag she carried when she became lost.

The girl strutted towards me, hips swaying with power. She crouched down, arms on her knees and glaring at my lackadaisical action. "You just got sprayed with internal organs and you're eating?"

"Are you going to criticize my every move?" I raised a brow at her.

By that time, I could see that it was Ethel. She was the typically sweet and quiet girl in the back of class. Before, her hair was a mess, now, it was completely matted. She looked extra scruffy since I had last seen her and completely changed by this apocalypse. Her clothes were in tatters and she appeared to have gotten in her fair share of fights.

"So, Capote, how's your relationship with Archie? Rumor has it you killed him in cold blood." Ethel snidely remarked, her finger twitching on the trigger of her shotgun.

"Nice one. But no, I didn't. Who says?" I asked before finishing off the burger and taking out another. It was an acquired taste which I was on my way to acquiring.

"Multiple sources. Mostly the jocks. Though, they also said you were the first zombie and that you started this whole thing. You weren't at the graveyard with Archie, Betty, and Veronica, so they kind of figured you stayed behind out of guilt. Something like that." Ethel prattled on.

"Odd, I was at home asleep while all that happened. Archie and I are getting along just fine, but he and Veronica are out right now. It's been a while, so I'm looking for them." I explained. She didn't need to know the full story.

"Where's the Serpent Slut? Dead already? I thought with your protection she'd at least be living on life support." Ethel sneered.

"I have absolutely no idea." I muttered a response, taking another bite. I tried to hide the anger burning inside me, but it was probably easy to detect in my darkening eyes.

"That sucks. I'm sure she was great when the night fell. You've heard about 'Dark Betty', right? Total dominatrix." Ethel looked away with a smirk.

"I'm not into doing things under the cover," I said.

"Doing the dirty's hard to come by now. Everyone's so focused on surviving. You know, no one really made it out of Riverdale." Ethel recalled. "Plus, some people came in, thinking they could escape whatever situation they were in previously. Boy, they were in for a surprise. South Side was hit hardest. You must be glad to be on the other side of the tracks."

"You bet." I mumbled, shoving the fourth burger in my mouth.

"You know Toledo got completely massacred? There were no survivors. It was what they said on the radio just before they shut the channel down," Ethel said, though I doubted that she knew that my mother and sister lived there.

Still, the comment bit at me, and I was only able to sink my teeth into my fifth burger. I could barely move my mouth. Hearing that Toledo's population was completely wiped off the map made my whole body ache and I'm pretty sure I was shivering in despair. What hurt worse, was that I wasn't there. Maybe if we had been able to escape Riverdale, I could have gotten to Toledo and saved them, but if I kept thinking of maybe's, the guilt for not being there in my chest would never be let go.

"You've been silent." Ethel noticed with concern.

I nodded, regaining myself. "Sorry." I began eating again.

"So Betty's missing and possibly dead, and you broke her heart just before it happened?" Ethel asked.

"Where'd you hear that?" I almost choked on my fifth burger.

"I watch everybody from the background." Ethel leaned in closer, smirking. "Feeling guilty now?"

"I don't ever feel guilty for anything. You can't get anywhere living with regrets." I rolled my eyes.

"That's what they all say, but I know how you are, Jughead Jones. Like I said, I watch everyone from the background. And I get it. That's your facade. Archie and Veronica abandoned you, huh? That's how it goes, I suppose. Now you're out here trying to find your own. Yeah, my group left me behind too." Ethel laughed without humor. "Wanna travel with me?"

I smirked, looking her straight in the eye so she knew my next words were genuine. "I'm completely loyal to Archie, same way around. We'd never leave each other, and I don't travel with people who think they can manipulate me." I calmly informed her.

Ethel eyed the bags on my back with a hungry curiosity. "What've you got in there besides burgers?" A wide grin began to grow on her face.

"I'm not telling you." I replied.

"I could hear the pills rattling when you got up. What kind? Any painkillers?" Ethel stood and walked around me. I stood my ground, calmly remaining in the position I was in. Turning around would clue her into the fact that I might've been flighty.

"You don't listen well enough, do you? I told you already, my bags are private," I said, my voice becoming more agitated since first talking with her. I coolly licked my fingers as I finished the sixth burger. "And I'm not sharing, either. So don't even think about touching my bags, period."

Suddenly, with the grip of a bear, her arms were wrapped around my neck. She pulled me onto her stomach as she tried to strangle the life out of me. I struggled under her grasp, but managed to get her to push me off when I sunk my teeth into her flesh.

I coughed my guts out on the ground and sucked in every bit of air I could get. I wiped the blood off of my teeth and stared at it. So this was what it came down to?

Behind me, Ethel screamed as if she had been caught on fire. Without even looking at her, I understood her tactic. I grabbed my bags and ran for it before the dead had the chance to get the jump on me. I knew they would be attracted to the howls of the pained.

Staring only ahead, my foot was caught on a loose sewer grate. I fell on my face and tried to stand back up. When I turned around, I saw Ethel, heading towards me like one of the dead, ambling and eyes bloodshot. Her voice was raspy as she moaned. I furrowed my brow. How could this have happened? There were no zombies around her.

Questions rising but stakes rising just as high, I drove my knife into her neck, tossing her over the edge of the cliffs and into the river. I watched as her body was carried adrift by the waves below.

Queasy from my conflicting experience, I stumbled along the alleyway road. My burgers were crushed now, but at least the medicine was protected by their cases. Ethel was a strange case, and I felt a little bad for her. It was horrible that she could've changed so much. I couldn't imagine what she must have gone through for that to have happened.

On my way to the graveyard, I came upon a small neighborhood. Surprisingly, one of the lights in one of the houses were on. I didn't actually recognize it, having never come this way, but I was curious to see what laid inside.

It was my lucky day. I just so happened to stumble upon Moose's house. He was pacing back and forth in his living room while Chuck watched him. I crouched and peered into the window, observing the relationship between them. I felt my cheek, not having forgotten the scar Chuck had given me.

"Calm down, Moose." Chuck chastised the brunette.

"I can't stop thinking about Ethel. I hope she's okay on her own. I gave her my shotgun." Moose looked down at his handgun. "Do you think it'll be enough? I don't want her to be killed because of something we did."

"She was getting crazy paranoid! We couldn't keep her around. Surely, you understand?" Chuck laughed awkwardly. "It was a group decision, anyway. Don't be too hard on yourself."

Moose whipped around on him. "You were the one who kicked her out." he pointed his gun at Chuck's chest. I tensed behind the glass.

"Hey, hey, watch where you're pointing that thing." Chuck held up his hands.

"Everything that's gone wrong has been because of you and I'm tired of it." Moose growled, his finger itching to pull the trigger.

Chuck stood and the gun fired off, sending him back against the couch. Quickly, Moose put another bullet in the man's brain. I assume so that he wouldn't come back as a zombie.

Moose turned around slowly as if he could somehow detect my presence. I ducked below the window.

It was then that I realized that the apocalypse was not a test of man versus zombie, it was a test of man versus man. Morals versus morals. Ideals versus ideals.

And the thought scared me.

* * *

 _Author's Note:_ _ew, eating raw meat is not normal jughead what r u doing_

 _biting people is also not ok like don't do that unless you are from tokyo and are a ghoul_


	9. Zombieland

_Author's Note:_ Afterlife, _now with substantially less Bughead and Varchie!_

 _jkjk there's a lot of Varchie in this one_

* * *

There are some stories we don't want to hear. They just remind us of the bad times or directly bring them up. But though they might hold a bad aura, we can't necessarily avoid them else we risk the sting of repeating the mistakes made within them.

No one made more mistakes in their pasts than Archie and especially Veronica, and I'm sure that's why they felt the need to tell me what happened when they went on what was basically their date to the graveyard.

Previously, the two hadn't been on exactly romantic terms. What with Veronica freaking out on him every time he came back into the diner, Archie didn't have much room to romance. She was always just so torn up. Sometimes, in the middle of the night, we'd hear her screaming. She'd say it was from nightmares, but she never slept. Often, Archie would offer to keep her company only for her to brush him off as if she felt in the wrong for being near him.

We didn't know whether to chalk it up to Betty's disappearance or Reggie's barging in, but I had to admit, I was jealous that she got Archie's attention for it. Here I was, hurting inwardly, and no one paid any mind because they thought I was happy to get rid of Betty. Then, there she was, openly scarred, and everybody had poured their hearts towards her.

Veronica was a pitiful sight to see, but she was nothing if not a total badass in combat. Even in her most emotional state, she could certainly fend off a zombie or two. Her baseball bat certainly had some power behind it, but the handgun she carried which was given to her by Archie, she was an absolute assassin. It was clear to everyone that this was not the first time she had to wield a gun, and it wasn't shocking seeing as she lived in New York City with a borderline mob boss father.

Personally, I had no baggage with Veronica. When she first arrived, I figured she would be the next Cheryl Blossom here to give us double the torment. Pleasantly surprising me, she turned out to be quite the stand-up gal who didn't take shit from anybody. Though, there was always this thing I noticed between her and Betty. My good friend, sexual tension. (Note: we're just friends, barely acquaintances. Probably, long distance friends over the Internet.)

Everybody heard the rumors, but a rare few actually knew the story of how Betty got onto the Riverdale Vixens Cheer Squad. All of us spread the candid truth about Betty's makeout session with Veronica, but only some actually understood the purpose behind it. They thought it was for shock value. As a natural sleuth, I theorized from the get-go what I believed to be true.

That was that Veronica, while perhaps being bisexual, lesbian, or otherwise, was definitely crushing hard on Betty. New girl, Veronica, had some romances in the Big Apple, but ended up falling for Betty's hometown charms. They shared a kiss of her own volition, but when she saw that Betty wasn't completely into the idea of a relationship—perhaps because of the stigma surrounding it or pressure from her parents—, Veronica grew a small tinge of jealousy for the one the blonde ended up falling for.

But, she couldn't get me to back down or step away from Betty no matter how many evil looks or chastising words she sent my way. Betty and I were too stubborn, headstrong, and naive for her to even put a chip in the paint on the walls of our relationship.

In comes the disappearance of Betty and the destruction of Veronica's heart. Archie tried desperately to heal it, feeling a deep connection to her. He cooked for her, danced with her, and talked with her for hours on end. He'd blow me off for her sometimes. She had none of it though. Veronica pushed him away when she really needed someone like him the most.

Archie was the kind of guy who wouldn't give up until he made you smile. If that meant playing you silly songs on his guitar, letting you beat him at video games, or just being a shoulder for you to lean on when your life was failing you; he would do it. Honestly, just seeing him beaming for no real reason when he simply stole a glance at me, made me grin.

So for Veronica to ignore his attempts to cheer her up should have been a wake-up-call for the group that she didn't want help. She wanted to sit and sulk in her guilt about the beautiful girl she lost and deal with things herself. But Archie kept trying. And fail after fail after fail, he finally stopped trying. He began shutting himself out of the rest of the group. That's when he started going out by himself as if he was trying to get himself killed.

He failed her, so automatically, he failed himself.

Now, investigating by their lonesome, they had another chance. One more to rekindle the burning flames of at least a friendship. Brightly, it sparked, but quickly, it smoked out.

Before they had even reached the graveyard, they ran into trouble with a small group of five zombies trying to get their fill. Archie was able to get them off his and her back, but Veronica just stood and stared—an odd thing for her to do in such a situation. She was distracted by a dead body by an electric pole.

The body was rotted beyond all recognition. Her head had seven bullet holes in it. Laying across from her was a backpack. It had Pokémon on it and a few supplies within.

"That poor girl," Veronica sniffled. "Why would anyone do this to someone? Wasn't one shot enough? To mutilate her?" Veronica turned away.

"This looks like the bag Betty was carrying for Jughead." Archie pointed out as he picked it up. He pulled out the package of Twinkies within. There were more than a few missing thanks to himself. "Yeah, this was it, I remember."

Veronica shuffled and looked around with worry. "Oh my god, this was the path we took. She must have dropped it when she was carried off by the Serpents." she theorized.

Archie laughed nostalgically at the backpack. "This was Jughead's in middle school. He had gotten it just before his mom and sister left for Toledo. He was so happy when he got it, too."

"Archiekins, are you crying?" Veronica mumbled, standing beside the redhead. She peered up at him with curiosity.

He was indeed crying. It was a subtle cry that didn't require the attention of many, but someone close. She managed to wipe a silent tear from his right eye and hold his hand which remained on the bag.

"We'll find her. I promise." Veronica swore. Archie gave her a look which was a mixture of unknowing, naivety, untrusting, and desire all at the same time. She returned it with a gaze of honesty, believing, and steadfastness.

After a couple of seconds, he leaned towards her and they met in a passionate liplock.

The lovely couple continued their trek up to the graveyard with newly heavy hearts. Not that they weren't weighed down already by the drama seen by them that day. It was just that now they had new things to worry about like why Betty had left behind the backpack.

On the way, Archie noticed the gaze of a man. He was nowhere in sight, but Archie could feel the stare. He stopped to question it for good minute as he searched for the eyes on him. They weren't dead, but they sure were elusive. Archie ran to catch up with Veronica.

With a creak, the back gate opened for Archie who successfully shot the lock off. He didn't even worry about his ammo since he was rather good with close combat weapons and the shotgun made for an okay alternative for a baseball bat. I think Veronica would've been much better off with it than he, however.

None of the dead took refuge in the graveyard as they had a sort of equilibrium to fulfill. They spread out away from their point of origin, so there were no zombies roaming about.

The graveyard was actually peaceful against the orange light of the setting sun. Life was still and it didn't seem like anything could go totally awry. Immediately, Archie and Veronica took to conversation, quickly forgetting their purpose for being there due to the pleasant scenery before them.

"Sometimes, I wish Jason never died. Why couldn't it have been Reggie or Chuck? Why did it have to be an insider who did murder?" Veronica thought aloud.

Archie burst out in laughter. "Can you picture it? They'd immediately find the culprit. Then, we probably wouldn't have gotten together last year, Jughead wouldn't have anything to write, and Polly wouldn't be back."

"I wonder how Polly is." Veronica's heart did a leap as Betty's sister entered her mindspace. "Do you think she knows where Betty is?"

"Like most in this town, I'd say she's a zombie right about now. Then again, maybe she's that one loner who's a total badass." Archie joked.

They hiked up the hill to Jason's grave and sat on it. It wasn't like anyone was occupying it anymore.

"Did the Blossom's rebuild their mansion or am I just imagining that?" Veronica asked, holding a hand over her eyes to see the mansion better with. "I thought that thing burnt down."

"I think so. Maybe we should seek shelter with them." Archie shrugged, rubbing his chin.

"Plot twist—what if it's actually Dilton's Doiley's survival group?" Veronica's smile widened. She and Archie laughed at the thought like they were two drunk people who acted like they had never heard a joke in their lives and thought it was the greatest thing ever.

Archie took the backpack off his shoulder and removed a roll of bandages from it. He shook his head with a smile and put it back.

"We know who that's for." Veronica smirked knowingly.

"Yeah, but I don't know what happened to the Twinkies, they were just—oh!—" Archie pulled out the box of only two cakes with a large grin. Beaming, he removed one for himself and handed the the other to Veronica.

"I can't eat those." Veronica pushed away the sweet.

Archie was completely dumbfounded. "How can you not? I mean, food is food in an apocalypse. You can't tell me you're dieting now of all times."

"No, they just look phallic and it wouldn't feel right." Veronica crossed her arms and looked away with red cheeks as Archie began to laugh at her.

"You're joking! I can see it, but who cares?" Archie guffawed at Veronica with good humor. He finished off both of the Twinkies by himself.

The two sat in silence atop the hill for a good minute, just staring out into the sunset. Smoothly, Archie slid his arm around Veronica who didn't seem to have been paying attention as she stayed still.

"Ronnie, do you think we'll ever be able to settle down?" Archie mused, staring deeply into her eyes.

Veronica was shocked. She turned scarlet and looked down at her boots. "I don't think so. For whatever reason, it feels like this zombie apocalypse is here to stay."

"Some day soon, I'm escaping to Chicago to live with my mom." Archie smiled down at Veronica. "I'd love it if you'd come with. We'll be better off there, I know it, Ronnie."

Stone cold silence.

"Sure, Archiekins." came Veronica's reply.

Unsure whether or not he should've done it, Archie shuffled in his seat on the grave as he leaned towards Veronica's lips. He closed his eyes and opened his mouth, ready to converge with hers. Anticipating this, Veronica leaned up, seemingly reluctant to lock lips.

"ARCHIE! VERONICA!"

The two jumped away from each other at the volume of the voice below them. Archie fell off of the grave, landing on his head. With hazy vision, he propped himself on the place he previously sat on.

"Jughead, what do you want?" Veronica nearly screeched. She seemed agitated by my sudden shout.

I strode up to the grave, hands in my jacket pockets and a dopey grin on my face. I knew I had just interrupted a special moment between the two and I took pride in the fact that I could now be called a "cockblock". Not that I wanted Archie to be unhappy, I simply found it funny and it was mere coincidence.

"I just got worried when I didn't see you two back at Pop's." I explained.

Archie pointed at his mouth. "Jug, you've got blood running down your chin."

I quickly wiped my mouth with my jacket sleeve and examined the stain. It was indeed blood. It must have been leftover from my encounter with Ethel. I couldn't tell them about it for fear that they might jump to conclusions like with Joaquin.

"It's just from some raw meat I've been eating." I lied, looking into their eyes to see if they believed me. Though, I probably made it worse on myself.

"' _Raw meat_ '... That's disgusting. What, did you get it from Pop's freezer?" Veronica put a finger in her mouth to show how grossed out she was. Clearly, she believed it, but I knew Archie didn't as he eyed me suspiciously.

"So have you guys just been making out up here?" I asked, trying to get away from the previous subject.

"We would've been if you hadn't intervened." Archie laughed. At least he didn't seem to care.

"You guys could've just admitted you wanted to go out on a date instead of telling me you were investigating. What've you found?" I raised a brow.

"Nothing. But, we haven't started yet." Veronica rolled her eyes. She was starting to become annoyed by my still being there. It was obvious by the way she stared daggers into me.

"What is there to find, really?" I shook my head. "Traces of a disease or something like that? We're not exactly a forensics team."

"Maybe we might find a limb that'll lead to us finding Betty." Archie shrugged with a chuckle. I laughed coldly, losing myself in his innocent doe brown eyes.

I looked away briefly, a hopeful feeling rising in my chest, but soon plummeting. "Man, I wish, but—"

"Please leave! Both of you!" Veronica yelled. She pushed her hair up from her forehead and stared down at the ground, anguished.

Archie and I stared at her with utter befuddlement. We had no idea what made her snap like that. But, considering everything that had been happening that day, it could've been anything. I chose to take it with maturity.

"It's me, I get it. I understand. I'll leave you guys to it. Just remember to come back after dark." I bit my lip and nodded, holding my hands out to my sides and turning around to exit the graveyard. I was hurt, but I didn't show it for fear of losing the two of them to petty arguments.

Archie looked between me and Veronica with worry. "Wait, Jug, it might be dangerous by yourself!" he shouted after me.

Rolling my eyes, I fired back, "What're you, my _guardian angel_?"

I shut the gate with a slam and slid to the ground, hands on my eyes. I couldn't believe I had been so stupid as to interrupt their moment when they were so desperate for it. Veronica was right to send me away. After that, I wasn't sure if they would even accept me back into the fold. Well, Archie would, but who was to say how entranced he was with Veronica.

Padding towards me, I brought my attention to three thugs towering over me. They looked like the kind of rough bikers you found in the backlot of Pop's. That meant only one thing. They were South Side Serpents.

The bald one in the middle pulled me up by the collar of my shirt. I didn't know what to think at first. I thought they were supposed to be my guardians, but now they seemed open to roughhousing me.

A dead-looking dog which had its eyes hanging out of its skull barked and snapped at me as I hung in the air.

"Calm down, Hot Dog." the svelte man to the right of the bald guy tried to soothe his hellhound by yanking on the chain around his collar.

"FP's been looking for you." the bald man grumbled at me. He studied my horrified expression. "Don't worry, you're not in trouble."

Soon my horror turned into confusion. How did my father escape jail during this madfest? How did he know I was still alive? And why did he need me?

I didn't have time to ask any of these questions as the man dropped me to grab his shoulder which had just been shot. Archie came rushing to my side. He pulled me up to my feet and re-aimed his shotgun at the man again. Veronica leaned on his shoulder.

"Who are you? What do you want?" Archie barked at him, packing a deadly glare.

"Your head on a plaque, for starters." the bald man pointed at Archie with hatred burning behind his sunglasses.

"FP just wants his son back. He's been looking for a while. We saw you and figured he'd be with you. We were right," the short man to the left of the bald guy said.

"I don't have a choice, do I?" I sighed with resign.

"No." the bald man answered simply.

"We'll go with you." Archie offered. I nodded, thankful for his support.

And with that, we all headed towards my father's base of operations, the Whyte Wyrm.

* * *

 _Author's Note: le gasp!_

 _I live for fluff moments like Twinkie moments :)_


	10. Until Dawn

_Author's_ _Note: Here's a drinking game! Take a shot every time someone cries in this fic._

 _wAIT NO DONT_

* * *

There was only one period of time that I had a good relationship with my father. That was when my mother and sister were still living with us. After our income dropped and they left, our lives were shattered.

I took it upon myself to move out at the ripe age of thirteen, scrounging around for food, water, and shelter by myself. I came back occasionally, but only if I was desperate and fed up with the outside world. Other than, I was living in Pop Tate's Chocklit Shoppe's storage room, the Twilight Drive-In's storage room, or the school's storage room. Safe to say, I wasn't very claustrophobic.

When all that happened, there was only one person I could truly count on for the embrace I yearned for. That was Archie Andrews. He never knew until only very recently about my home life, but he was accepting of me regardless. Most of the time, I'd skip out on nights at the drive-in and stay with him. I ended up having to live with him, but it was no trouble for me. We just had a sort of magnetism that drew us towards each other and it was honestly better that way.

Engulfed in flames, Archie's father had met his demise. The man who was more paternal than my own at times was gone. I could detect a reflection of jealousy in Archie's eyes when he heard that my dad was looking for me. A part of me wanted it to be the other way around. Just to put another bright side in those envious emerald eyes, I would do or give up anything.

Now to see my father after he'd been in jail for so long was bound to be a shock. I didn't want to face him for leaving me behind to remove the blemish of blame off of Clifford Blossom. And for what? We found out whodunnit anyway.

Once we arrived at the Whyte Wyrm and the moon had risen, we were shoved inside to go it alone. Archie and Veronica allowed me to lead since they assumed correctly that I had been there much more than they had. I knew exactly where my father would be. Thing is, I didn't expect him to be on the arm of Alice Cooper when I spotted him watching his favorite thugs playing pool whilst sipping the most vanilla of alcohol concoctions.

"Mrs. Cooper?" Archie shouted, awestruck. He got a fair bit of attention from quite a few Serpents who stopped what they were doing to stare at him. He didn't shrink under their gaze, still petrified by the sight.

Alice ran her hands through my father's hair with a devilish smirk towards me. "Well, did you expect Hermione Lodge?"

I pinched the bridge of my nose, a sudden headache coming on from the thought of Betty's mother getting with my father. This couldn't have been happening. She was even wearing the Serpent jacket.

"Once a Serpent, always a Serpent," my father sighed after taking a long drink of beer. He beckoned me to the leather couch next to him. "So, Juggie, how's the apocalypse been treating you?"

I sat down and clasped my hands nervously for fear I might say the wrong thing in front of him. It just irked me that he was sitting there so content, and seemed to have been for a while, but yet he thought only now to get me.

"I've been okay." I nodded, content with my simple answer. I had to admit that I was a little grateful that he was even alive. Though, I wondered if he even knew about Toledo and if he even cared now that he had Alice.

I laughed as the seat below me rose when Archie crashed on the rest of it. Veronica huffed when she saw that he was taking up all of the room.

"Glad to see you all are okay, honest." Alice gave a sincere smile. "Now, where is Betty? Surely she's not hanging out with the heathens outside."

"We've been over this, Al. Mad Dog and Stallion are not 'heathens'; they're normal people like you and me. They just like to smoke the doobies," my father chuckled at his own joke. He stopped laughing when he saw our serious faces.

My heart dropped and I furrowed my brow. I bit my lip and looked at Veronica, confused. Archie rose to a sitting position and gawked, open-mouthed at her as well.

"You said the Serpents carried her off, Ronnie." Archie breathed, looking as if his whole world had been torn apart more than it already had.

Veronica clenched her eyes shut and cursed under her breath. She stepped back into the pool table. "I said 'might have', Archie. She _might have_ been taken." she gasped. Veronica tapped anxiously on the wood she grasped.

"We don't have Betty here, Miss Lodge," my father leaned over to stare into Veronica's eyes with an intense hatred. "You better tell us what happened to her, right the hell now!" he clutched the arms of his chair and shouted so loud that I'm pretty sure some of the roof crumbled. The rest of the Serpents sure acted like it because they whipped around to face him as if he was giving them the lowdown on a new mission. For such a scrawny man, he had a lot of power.

A Serpent approached Veronica from behind, making her scream. He backed off quickly, but she began to heave and sigh. She slid to the floor and clutched her hair, unable to do or move anything but her chest which fell and rose very quickly. I stood suddenly, moving to comfort her, but she darted out of the bar before I could even take one step.

Archie looked between me and the door. He shrugged at me and ran after her. I followed obediently.

A disheveled mess on the gravel before us, Veronica sat with her legs crossed in the middle of the parking lot, sobbing. I crouched down in front of her with an inquisitive expression while Archie held her shoulders with a delicate touch. Tears were falling at such a high rate that you would've thought she was the Niagara Falls. Her chest heaved with every breath, and it didn't seem like she was stopping anytime soon.

"Come on, we need to get you back inside. You might attract zombies," I said uncaringly.

"Jug, maybe go a little easier?" Archie berated me. I sneered at him. "She obviously needs a moment to breath."

"I just want her to talk, Archie." I snapped.

"About what?" Archie yelled, staring at me with wide-eyes.

I rose to my feet. "She knows where Betty is!" I exclaimed.

"Betty's dead, Jughead!" Archie screamed, face red and fists clenched at his side. He got in a deep breath before taking to sobbing beside Veronica.

Bitterly, I kicked a good bit of gravel from its place in the lot. I then took to throwing rocks at the Whyte Wyrm's walls as Archie and Veronica cried together without me. Done with fury, I sat down on the porch swing, rocking by my lonesome. I wanted to be alone. I wanted to give myself the room to think.

All of my words came crashing down on me. I let Betty past my defenses, only to attack her. But, she betrayed me more than once. But, she did so unknowingly and unsure of how I'd feel about those things. She was bossy and reckless, but she was caring and kind and smart and lovable and beautiful and amazing. There were some moments where I wanted to smack her, but there were times where I had to kiss her and assure her that everything would be okay. She wasn't so innocent, but neither was I. She was weird to me, and I was weird to her. I gave her up when I decided to stray from what brought us together; our passion for writing. So when I gave her up, I threw away a piece of myself.

I wanted it back. It wasn't coming back.

Archie plopped down beside me. We exchanged a look of mutual understanding though his eyes were red for another reason than mine were.

Veronica stood before us like someone ready to testify in front of the Supreme Court. She pushed her hair up nervously. She clearly wasn't done crying, but she felt the need to start talking.

"Betty is dead, Jughead." Veronica gulped. "And I killed her."

For weeks I had wanted to know the cause of Betty's demise or disappearance, and now here it was in front of me. My lip twitched into a smirk as I eyed her wildly.

Without even a moment's hesitation, I jumped from my seat to grab her and choke her until the light was gone from her eyes. But, Archie, catching my sudden action, grabbed me by the collar of my jacket and slung me backwards, causing me to hit my head on the wall behind us. I massaged the back of my head and glared at Veronica with the abhorrence of a mortal enemy. Next time, she wouldn't be so lucky.

Veronica took a deep breath. "I'll keep it short."

I could only imagine what all she told us. As she described the horrible things that had transpired, I just clutched my stomach, sick that it could even have been allowed by the heavens to happen.

When we were prompted to go after Archie and Kevin, she and Betty had gone one way, and myself and Joaquin the other. From there, everything that could go wrong, went wrong.

Walking around and exploring, Veronica found a handgun and kept it to herself, letting Betty carry her baseball bat. Betty had scoffed when Veronica found the gun and at how childish her expression was when her face lit up with glee.

"You can't be serious. It's just a handgun. It's nothing special." Betty shrugged.

"No, B, it's my very own gun. Watch!" Veronica aimed the gun at a stop sign and put a bullet right in the middle of the 'o'.

"Be careful, V, we can't exactly waste ammo." Betty cautioned her.

"Well, you can have my baseball bat." Veronica dropped the weapon into Betty's unsure hands.

The blonde stepped back with a nervous smile. "This was a gift from your dad. You're giving this to me?" her bright blue eyes lit up.

"Of course. You didn't have one before. I'm sure you can use it better than I can." Veronica rolled her eyes as if it were obvious. Her heart had fluttered the moment the bat transferred hands. She knew she was hopelessly in love with this blonde beauty.

Betty nodded with a large smile and followed her on the path to Sheriff Keller's. She would've followed her to the ends of the Earth if need be. They were constantly on the lookout for Archie and Kevin, but they might have looked a little too hard. Veronica led Betty down alleyways and up on rooftops to try and search for the two. But, Betty didn't mind; she always was an adventurous spirit.

They had circled around at some point, but Veronica wasn't completely sure of that where Betty was. A fight started as quick as a fire from a lighter cast away into the forest.

"B, I know we haven't been here before." Veronica tried to convince Betty.

"V, no, we have. I'm sure of it." Betty argued. She pointed at a stop sign. "That's the one you shot on the way to the sheriff's."

"How can you say that when I'm the one who's been leading you this whole time?" Veronica squinted, not understanding.

"Please, I don't want to fight." Betty tried to back down.

"Clearly you do." Veronica looked her up and down, disbelieving. She was quick to take to anger, seeing the girl she had pined after for so long suddenly take a side against her.

"No, V, I'd rather not." Betty pleaded, stepping closer. She was pushed away by hateful hands. "Ronnie, please."

Little did Veronica know, she was pushing her into the greedy hands of a zombie that had just come out of the shadows of an alley behind her. While Betty was struggling away from its strong grip, Veronica popped a cap in its neck, but not before it laid its chompers into Betty's shoulder. Unlike most zombies, it was deterred and ran back down the alleyway from which it came. Betty watched as its figure disappeared with wide eyes.

Veronica glared at her intently. Then, she dropped her head and choked up. "Betty," she said, her voice cracking.

Betty leaned down and clutched her in her arms with a dismal expression. She buried her head in the crook of Veronica's neck as if she was the smaller one. Veronica didn't really know what to think. The girl she loved was bound to meet her demise now, and it was all her fault.

"I'm sorry." Veronica murmured, tears welling up in her eyes. She muffled herself with Betty's ponytail. "I was being petty."

"Don't be sorry, you couldn't have known." Betty hushed her. She thought for a moment, eyes transfixed on Veronica's gun. "You have to put me down before I turn."

Veronica pulled away from Betty's grasp with wide eyes. "No! I won't do it, Betty! I love you too much!" her eyes crinkled with guilt.

"If you love me, let me go." Betty demanded. She held her arm, afraid and adamant about her decision at the same time. It seemed she wasn't as sure as she sounded, though.

"We don't know if bites really infect people. You could be fine." Veronica reasoned. She massaged her temples, trying to think of how to get Betty to see things her way.

"V, I saw what was in Reggie Mantle's brain. It was a fungus. This thing is obviously a disease that spreads through bodily fluids being put in the bloodstream." Betty furrowed her brow, angry that Veronica couldn't begin to understand her logic. "I don't want to die, but I don't want to put you in danger."

"Maybe you'll have time to live! Maybe we can stay together for a day, a week even." Veronica hugged herself, shuffling back from Betty.

"It won't be worth knowing that I could turn into one of those things. I'm not going to do it. I'm not going to attack you, or Archie, or Jughead. I won't let myself." Betty put her foot down. "Kill me, Veronica."

Tasked with a choice, Veronica looked down at her gun. She could take Betty's life and fulfill her wishes, but she could let her live and see what would happen, risking the guilt and pain that Betty's judging eyes would give her as the days went by.

Veronica held up the gun with tears streaming down her cheeks. She then threw it to the ground, cheeks hot as her blood began to rise.

Betty rushed over to her and cradled her in her arms. Veronica was sobbing, screaming even. Betty panicked, never having to deal with something like this. She did what she knew best. She knew how to calm her ex-boyfriend down, and so it didn't seem too far-fetched to try it in Veronica.

When the ebony-haired girl looked up with a distraught expression, the blonde countered with an introduction of her mouth. Veronica met it, licking Betty's lips until she allowed her access to a total lip lock. They savored every moment until Betty pulled away. Veronica cried, reaching out through eyes blinded by tears.

"Do it. Do it now! I'm not staying in a world where I can put my best friends in danger!" Betty screeched, her face completely red with clear streaks running down it. She clenched her fists so hard that blood could be seen running down her palms.

Veronica stumbled over, groping the ground for the handgun she discarded. She turned away.

"I love you,"

When Veronica got the courage to open her eyes, she saw Betty lying beneath the electric pole, eyes glazed, and a bullet hole just above her right eye. She saw the gun in her hand, and put the pieces together. There went her blonde beauty.

Overcome with emotions, Veronica bellowed all of her anger out into the night sky. She unloaded every piece of ammo in the gun into Betty's head, caring about her own survival no longer, for, Betty was what kept her going anyway.

As she released her guttural screams, she felt arms suddenly wrapping around her. Veronica pushed herself away from them and found Kevin confusedly peering down at her. He questioned her on what had happened and took her back to Pop's where Archie had been waiting for everyone. From there, Archie departed to find myself and Joaquin at Sheriff Keller's after Kevin and Veronica had told him a bogus story.

Somehow, none of this made me forgive her.

* * *

 _Author's Note: i can **explain**_


	11. Serpents Vs Zombies

_Author's Note: We finally found out what caused the apocalypse! it was the lack of reviews_

* * *

We trudged back inside the Whyte Wyrm, myself nearly being left behind by Archie leading Veronica like a knight in shining armor. I grimaced jealously, staring ahead at them with a bloodlust towards Veronica. If I could rewind time, I would've lunged for her when Archie wasn't looking. Perhaps Ethel's fate would've done her well.

Inside, the Serpents eyed us with caution. Not that they were scared of us, it's just that they were scared for us. Veronica's outburst might have lost us some brownie points with my father.

We descended down to the pool area together where my father was actually playing for once. Though, to be fair, he was completely alone besides Alice who was also playing. I'd never even seen him directing another Serpent where to shoot. It was refreshing. I was actually glad that he seemed to be happy.

He smiled up at me once he noticed I was back. "Did you calm your girl down, Jug?" he asked with a broad grin and a wink.

I smirked at him and then Veronica. "Oh, us? We're not a thing."

"Archie did good, then. Proud of you, son." my father nodded at Archie who had his arms crossed. He was shocked to get pointed out.

"Actually, FP, I'm single. I'm still trying to get over someone." Veronica crinkled her nose, appearing ready to cry again.

I glared at her. How could she say that? Weren't we all? She didn't have to break it off with Archie just because she was finally coming clear about her feelings for Betty.

"So where is my daughter, then?" Alice asked with her hands on her hips. She didn't seem the type able to be lied to.

Veronica took a deep breath and sighed at the floor. "Mrs. Cooper, Betty is d—"

Archie yanked Veronica nearly across the room. She stumbled into his arms with wide-eyes. "Can I talk to you for a second? Upstairs?" he asked rhetorically. Usually, he'd be fine with "no" for an answer, but different times called for different measures.

"Oh, don't count me out." I groaned, following after them.

We went upstairs only to be greeted by other Serpents. I managed to shoo them all back down to where my father was even though he clearly wanted to be alone with Alice.

"Ronnie, there is no good way to tell Alice Cooper and Forsythe Pendleton Jones II that their daughter is dead." Archie scolded Betty with a hushed voice, but his eyes were blazing.

"Betty isn't my dad's daughter." I laughed coldly. I really didn't want to think of us being related. It just screamed "Blossom's", and they were the last people I wanted think about.

"Well, Jughead, if he's on the arm of Alice, right now, I think he would treat her like one." Archie argued. He pointed at Veronica. "And that includes protecting her. If you even think for a second that FP wouldn't have every Serpent on you in less than a minute for killing Betty, I don't know what to tell you."

"So what do we do?" Veronica asked, panicked.

"Kill you ourselves." I answered as soon as the thought entered my mind. "Gang violence hurts. Just one shot, and it's over, isn't that right? Or would seven do it for you? Is that what it takes, Veronica?" I shoved my hands in my coat pockets, grimacing when I remembered the exact situation Veronica put Betty in. Mindlessly, I fidgeted with the lighter in my pocket as I awaited a response. I ended up dropping it, cursing as I did so.

"You know, Jughead, we should actually get along. Our dads have both been in jail, we're both spoiled brats, and we've both killed Betty Cooper—mentally and physically." Veronica listed our "similarities" on her fingers.

I lunged for her, but Archie pushed me onto the cold, hard floor. He quickly side-stepped beside Veronica, putting his arm around her and bringing her close. I stood with a slight pain in my back which felt as if I had been stabbed.

"No one's killing anyone." Archie calmed us down. "We'll just tell them that Betty's down at Pop's and we didn't want to say anything because we thought they might be mad that we left her by herself. If they think we think they'll be mad, they won't be as mad."

"Oh come on, Archie. I deserve to die by the Serpents. It's my fault." Veronica wiped a dry eye. When she was talking to me, she was a total queen, but when it was Archie, she was a princess in distress.

"No, no, V, it's fine. I don't mind doing the job myself." I licked my teeth and shone a broad, toothy smile at her, recalling what I did to Ethel.

Archie shook me violently as if trying to snap me out of some kind of entrancement. "You can't just kill people, Jughead! We're going to lie for her."

I stared at Archie with a contempt I had never known for him. Always, no matter what, he took my side. When they caught me for burning down Riverdale Elementary, he was there to tell the police we were just playing with matches, anchoring in our false alibis. There was only one case where he didn't take my side, and that was with Ms. Grundy. I looked between him and Veronica. I started to think the worst.

"Call me when you get that boner cut off, buddy." I waved a hand down, walking away from the scene.

Pulling up a chair downstairs, I watched as my dad shot a five-ball into a corner pocket in the pool table closest to the stairs. I cheered as most of the Serpents had. They were divided between him and Alice whom he was playing against.

She took aim with her cue stick and thrusted the cue ball into an eight-ball, sending it into a side pocket. Alice groaned in frustration.

"That's minus fifty points, boys! Jot that down! What're you waiting for?" my father roared in laughter at the move.

"Oh, FP, you were so close to doing that! You set me up." Alice crossed her arms and sent him a knowing smirk.

They walked in front of each other to switch spots, but not before my father could land a devilish kiss on her cheek. She winked at him as she took her place at the other end of the billiards table.

"I won't deny that." my father bit his lip. "For my own safety," he added with a wink and a nod.

It was really nice to see that he was enjoying himself with Alice. They seemed so happy in their own little world. Who was I to disrupt it? I wasn't going to tell them about Betty, and hopefully neither would Archie or Veronica.

Speak of the devils, the two walked down to the party unsurely. Veronica turned to go back upstairs, but Archie dragged her back down along with him. I looked at them over my shoulder and gave them a smile. I wanted them to join in the fun, but really only for my and Archie's sakes.

"Hey, are you kids okay?" my father called out to them, briefly taking his eye off of the cue ball as he positioned his stick.

"Yeah, FP. We're all good." Archie waved a hand in dismissal and took a seat on the couch behind Alice. Veronica stood next to him.

"You still haven't answered me. Where is Betty?" Alice asked Veronica.

My heart stopped. I stared daggers into Veronica, trying to pressure her to lie. Something told me she wouldn't though.

"Oh, Mrs. Cooper, she's just back at our shelter at Pop's. We all just didn't want to say it and Veronica slipped it out. We thought you'd be mad if we left her there. She didn't want to come because the Serpents freak her out." Archie explained. I gave him a surreptitious thumbs up.

"You guys should probably get back to her, then," my father said, leaning on the table with a stern expression. "I just wanted to see ol' Jughead again. Make sure he's still kicking." he laughed heartily.

I snickered and looked away, a blush settling on my cheeks. "Dad, you can't call me 'ol', I'm not old like you." I had to genuinely smile. My father chuckled.

"Um, FP, Archie and I were actually wondering if you knew anything about the apocalypse?" Veronica asked. I sent her another glare. She was stepping over some clearly defined boundaries.

"Sure I do: it sucks." my father guffawed. He squinted at her with a grimace. "Why do you think I would know anything?"

"You've got eyes and ears everywhere, right? That's why we came here." Veronica recovered herself smoothly.

"Yeah, well, I don't talk to Lodge's. I don't need information in the hands of real thugs." my father quickly disregarded her.

Veronica sent him a sneer that fell on blind eyes, sitting down beside Archie with a frustrated groan.

"FP, she's trustworthy, I promise. We'd love to know what you do so we can be prepared out there." Archie pleaded with him.

"Kid, I trust you because you're Fred's boy, but that doesn't mean I have to trust her." my father rolled his eyes. He booed at Alice as she struck a seven-ball and a three-ball into two corner pockets at the same time. "You cheated, Alice!" he yelled.

I moaned, realizing I'd have to take Veronica's side in all of this. I too, was hungry for answers on this apocalypse. "Dad, just tell us, please. We need to know what you do," I said.

"Fine, just promise me you won't think different of me," my father said, his voice gruff and dismal. "I want every Serpent gone from this room, and I mean it this time!" he barked at the group as a whole. Soon, the only people left were him, Alice, Archie, Veronica, and myself.

"So how did this start?" Veronica inquired.

"I can't give you specifics, but it began a year ago. Clifford Blossom had big dreams. He wanted to be on top of it all. He started importing this banned shit. It was some kind of shrooms. Jason was his first test subject. The kid was young too. Elementary I think. No wonder you kids got caught burning down the school, it was probably his idea. Kid was real messed up.

"Once Clifford nearly drove his son to insanity, he started putting the drug in the syrup. It messes with the brain, see? It's from some fungus that controls the mind of ants. It makes them kill other ants to get them to back off of the host. There was no way to tell what it did to humans.

"Course, I had no idea what was going on, just that I was supposed to deliver the stuff to him. He kept in that big barn. But when he died, so did his secret because there was only one person who knew about it after that," my father explained. "Please, don't think different of me, and please, please, please, by god, tell me you all never used that syrup."

I shook my head. "Never."

Veronica and Archie looked over at me with worry. Where they, like many, had given up the syrup due to the new ingredients in it, I never gave it up. They noticed me tapping on my chair's arm and my rapidly shaking leg.

Everything at that moment was telling me that I needed to get out of there. I was now dangerous. Because of one, simple, trite, petty thing, I was a threat to my friends and family.

I clutched my legs through my pants, trying to claw at my skin for even daring to have licked that plate of pancakes; the origin of sin.

"Jughead, are you okay?" Archie reached out, and as soon as he did, I bolted from my seat, knocking it backward.

I ran out of the bar, I ran past hordes of zombies who weren't hostile towards me, I ran until I couldn't run anymore. I found my shelter and I was done. There was only one thing left to do. Sit and wait for my time to be over.

* * *

 _Author's Note: and you thought it was weird to have like seven detailed paragraphs of Jughead eating pancakes like— who do you take me for lol_

 _that was super important_

 _So moral of the story is, anything bad can happen at any time. It's just up to us to be prepared for and deal with it. Gee, that's dark._


	12. Warm Bodies

_Author's Note: I smell a long author's note at the bottom..._

 _... but read the chapter first, don't skip_

* * *

In the darkest of times—in the most profoundly worst of times—we all look back on the cherished memories we shared with friends.

The reason is because it sheds light on the tragic situation we've found ourselves in. It makes us see that because there would good times in the past, there's no reason there couldn't be good times in the future. It gives us a hope previously unreachable without the friendship of others.

And the ones with the one you love most? That reaches even farther.

So when I sat in Pop's—scratched, bruised, and marked by the hands of the dead, disheveled, crying off and on, and tapping away at my laptop— recalling my memories with Archie was the only thing that could drag me out of this hole I found myself in. It kept me sane for those hours. It kept me from disappearing altogether.

I had taken it upon myself to separate myself from him and my family because I thought it would make them safe. I thought it would make me better. It was the opposite—I felt alone.

Cyan lights quickly flickered out and I was left alone in the darkness with only my computer screen to see with. I suppose they were on a timer.

A rustle alerted me to company. I figured it was just a zombie ambling into the restaurant confusedly. So, it was a shock to me when I could just barely see his freckles in the darkness above my laptop.

"Arch, go away. There's a reason I ran," I said bitterly.

I had to yank my hands away as he shut the laptop with a slam. Now there was no light, but I felt I could trace his outline perfectly, and I knew he was staring at me with doe brown eyes composed of pools of melancholy. I shrunk under his gaze and looked out of the window at the waxing half moon.

"You aren't going to change, Jughead. It's been too long. You saw what happened with Joaquin," Archie said quietly.

My eyes shifted towards him and back to the moon. "That was different and you know that. He was bitten." I shuffled in my seat. Never had the booth felt this uncomfortable.

"Jughead—"

"It's– it's like pot. When you smoke it, you get the high quicker, but when– when you digest it, it takes longer. And guess what? It's a bigger high. What do you think is going to happen when I turn Archie?" I had raised my voice tremendously.

"Come on, don't be like that. You're always such a pessimist." Archie snickered.

That's right. I was the rain on everyone's parade.

"Archie," I snapped, gaining a silently cold stare from him. "Why do you keep me around?" I asked, quieter. I bit my lip and clenched my fists, awaiting the answer.

"Because you're my best friend." Archie replied as if it was something for a recital. I couldn't see, but I knew he was smiling that goofy smile of his.

I slammed my open palms onto the table and glared directly into his warm brown eyes with my icy blue. "No, you don't get it. WHY DO YOU KEEP ME AROUND, ARCHIE?" I screamed at the top of my lungs. I winced and clasped a hand around my neck, feeling it become raw. I squinted at him through cold slits.

He was silent for a good, solid minute. He was breathing normally and looking at me with a vacant expression. If his chest wasn't rising and falling, I would've pronounced him dead.

He opened his mouth, and nothing discernible came out but the word, "love".

"What?" I hissed, confused by his meaning.

"I love you. I want you around because I love you." Archie nodded, content with his answer.

Enraged, I swept the laptop off of the table in a frozen fury. Sparks flew as shards of the metal and plastic erupted from the broken machine.

"No you don't." I seethed, becoming nearer to his face so I could see his dumbfounded expression clearer. I was so close, I could count his freckles. " _I_ love you. I've _always_ loved you. I want you around me _all the time._ I want to see your dumb red hair _all the time._ I want to hear what you have to say _all the time_. I want to smell that stupid cologne you've been wearing for the past half-decade _all the time._ I want a taste of what it's like to be next to you _all the time_. I want to know that I can reach out and touch you _at all times_."

The only sound was the noise I made by breathing out of my flared nostrils.

"I love you." I cried. "That's love, Archie."

Archie was breathless. He combed a hand through his hair and stared at me with unbelieving eyes. He beamed toothily, tears beginning to drop down his cheeks. For once, he was shaking as if afraid of something. Afraid of losing _me_?

"And you think I don't feel the same way?"

I perked up, surprised by this question. And honestly, no, I didn't. I would've said that if he had given me the time to think of a sarcastic reply.

"I may not show it as often as you, Jug, but I care about you deeply. Remember, I've always taken care of you." Archie clasped his hands together and avoided my eyes. "And I know I abandoned you on the Fourth of July, but I've always had my fingers crossed that you could forgive me."

"You were... _raped_... I have no reason to be mad with you over that anymore, Arch. I understand now," I said, my shoulders slumping over from the weight of the words I had just spoken.

"And– and I know I overstepped my boundaries when I went with Veronica to investigate your dad, but I've learned. And– and– I– I–" Archie broke down, and tears were falling at a more rapid rate.

I shook my head. "Archie, please. Don't try to guilt trip me." I furrowed my brow.

Archie gasped for air. "I– you– you think I'm trying to guilt trip you? You've just been defining love and I'm trying to make up for what I've done."

"All you've done is give me excuses." I argued.

"Yeah, and I'm hoping you accept them because that's what people who love each other do!" Archie yelled before breaking down into harsher sobs.

"Does Veronica accept your excuses? Because you sure seem to act like you're in love with her when clearly she isn't with you." I raised a brow.

"Veronica just– she just doesn't know what– what she wants. She– she talks a big game about how much she cares for me, but I've never... ever seen it. Geraldine– never!– showed me the closeness love actually should have either— that— that I want. I've just been led to believe that love was supposed to be _passion_ and _sex_..." Archie cringed before having to gasp for air. "I– I just feel so alone all the time," he sobbed quietly.

I scoffed and crossed my arms, turning my back on him and the window. Every few seconds, I peered over at him wailing without noise. It grabbed at my heartstrings. This was my best friend, feeling alone because I made him feel that way. I was a monster who was pushing my feelings onto him.

With just one move, I circled around the table and clutched onto him. I rubbed my chin on his shoulder to get him to wrap his arm around me. I hated contact, but he needed it. I could hear his heart beat, I was so close. We sat there for minutes without talking. Our grasps on each other was all we needed. It was all the words we could say. It was our "I love you."

Eventually, I lazily gazed up into his eyes with red eyes from having cried so much before he had arrived. He looked down at me with the same, but they were now as dry as mine.

"I promise you that I'm never going to have sex with you." I joked, tittering. He finally cracked a smile and chuckled.

"How about we blow this popsicle stand?" Archie flashed a wider—but hesitant— grin at me.

"You took the words right out of my mouth." I bit my lip with a smirk.

He leaned in and kissed me on the forehead, making me giggle. Quickly, he leaned back, almost hitting his head on the window. I knitted my brow, confused. I was curious to know if I had done something wrong.

"I'm sorry— was that okay? I don't know if that was okay or— or not." Archie's voice cracked with worry.

"Arch," I grasped his right hand in both of mine. He hesitantly put his other on top. "You can express your love for me any way you're comfortable with," I said.

"Let's go, then." Archie blushed, rubbing the back of his neck. He seemed embarrassed that he even had to ask.

Together, our relationship rekindled with brighter flames, we exited the shoppe hand in hand. It seemed that nothing could destroy us now.

We had to take the deserted alleyways back to the Whyte Wyrm. Even though I was now immune to zombies, Archie still wasn't. It seemed like the dead were all taking one path towards something greater. The thought mortified us, but we didn't question it. As long as we were able to stay out of their way, we didn't care.

"So I said to him, 'What the hell, man? You can't just drench my papers in blood like this. What kind of editor does that?'" I laughed, having been previously engrossed in a conversation with Archie about my troubles with my manuscripts.

"Jughead." Archie elbowed my shoulder. He wanted me to see something, but I couldn't keep from chuckling, my eyes closed from laughing so hard. He nudged me harder every time he had to repeat my name to get me to open my eyes.

I wiped a tear from crying so hard and squinted at Archie. He raised his brows and nodded towards what was in front of us. I was confused because we hadn't yet reached the Whyte Wyrm. We had taken quite the scenic route and were now atop a hill, but we were steadily approaching.

Before my very eyes, I watched as the Whyte Wyrm smoldered, completely covered in flames. I dropped to my knees.

"What happened?" I gasped out.

* * *

 _Author's Note: betcha weren't expecting that_

 _so what happened to Veronica? Le gasp_

 _Also, on the aroace/Bughead fight... I? Really? Don't? CAre? I'm just portraying a character. I'm NOT portraying a walking sexuality. So no, I don't care if you see him as aroace or as straight or as gay or as demi. The picture I'm trying to paint in my own words is a character I'm trying to draw up in_ my own words _._

 _You're free to think that in this story, Jughead still has an attraction to Betty or that he's found Archie now, but when_ _I write the word love, please know that to me, love is universal and can be felt romantically_ and _platonically. I think that's really important. Especially in Rebecca Sugar's song,_ "Love Like You." _I really think it was a great message to send that anybody can love anybody and have it not be purely sexual. It certainly applies to every character in this fic._

 _Sorry, I just really wanted to say my piece on it. No one's bugged me about it, it's just something I wanted to rant about especially since people are so adamant about it._


	13. The Last of Us

_Author's Note: There's like four or five chapters left :'D it's nearly over..._

 _I had a lot of fun writing this. It was interesting to make all of the twists._

 _Updating this early again because I'm not sure if I'll be on the road tomorrow or not. Hopefully I will be :)_

* * *

In the heat of the moment, you end up doing stupid things. Guilty as charged, but not as guilty as Veronica.

No, she isn't the villain of the story of my life, but she's quite the nuisance. The nemesis, if you will. The one who I believe was put on this earth solely to torment me until the day of my inevitable demise. In my father's words: she sucks.

When the Whyte Wyrm burnt down, I expected her to be caught up in it. Archie had been naïve enough to leave her in the bar alone with the Serpents, but ultimately, I knew the blame would find its way towards her somehow.

I examined the outside of the burning building, and ended up finding a note in the parking lot. I managed to keep my cool and wits about me whilst Archie was panicking.

"What'sit say?" Archie asked, running towards me with the speed of a cheetah.

I cleared my throat. " _'To Forsythe Pendleton "Jughead" Jones III or whomever it may concern otherwise,_

 _We at the Blossom Mansion formally invite you to our dinner party tonight. Drinks and gourmet food will be served despite the lack of living personnel. Be here by sun-up or you may expect Veronica to be sleeping in Sweetwater River._

 _Sincerely, Cheryl.'_ "

I crumbled the paper and pitched it into the flames. Even though my blood pressure was at its peak with Veronica, I realized that this wasn't her fault. It was the redheaded devil, Cheryl's. It had her fiery branding all over it and I needed answers on the how, why, when, and where of all of it.

"Well, we're going after her, aren't we?" Archie inquired anxiously. He looked between me and the fire nervously. "We can't just leave her there."

"I can, but I have to know why Cheryl did this. Or, at least how it started." I explained.

Archie was silent, thinking deeply. I could tell he was actually sparing some brain cells by the way he rubbed his chin and looked up into the night sky. "Do you think the offer of dinner is genuine?"

"I'm certainly famished, but no, Archie. Who do you take them for? I've seen it a million times in the movies. We'll get there, and it'll probably be a trap." I replied.

"Then why do you want to go if we could get killed? Or worse?" Archie's eyes widened.

"Answers, Archie, answers." I groaned. "Anyway, what's worse than being killed?" I crossed my arms.

"Losing the one you love," Archie said.

I looked into the fire and bit my lip, reminiscing in the flames my good times with Betty. She was gone just too soon. I appreciated her, but not enough.

"I'm sorry, Jug, I didn't mean to bring that up." Archie held my shoulders. I looked up into his eyes dejectedly.

"It's okay, I should've expected you to answer that way." I pulled away from his grasp and turned my back on him. "Let's just go, Veronica's waiting."

We began walking, I triumphantly, and Archie a little more unsteady. Occasionally I stole a glance at the boy who seemed to be falling behind somewhat.

"Jughead can we talk about Betty?" Archie raised a brow. I gaped at him and squinted down at the ground, a frown carved into my lips.

"No, she was a victim of Veronica and that's all there is to it. I've moved on." I waved him away.

"I don't think you have. I saw the way you looked when I brought her up the first time. You still love her." Archie noted.

"Of course I do." I stopped, sighing. "She was everything to me. I miss her so much. I couldn't believe that I had her, and then just lost her like that." my voice cracked.

"Honestly, I didn't think you liked anybody like that," Archie said. "But, you and Betty were a great couple."

"I know." I clutched my shirt. "I hated the idea of dating anyone, but she opened my eyes. I was never into the sexual stuff, but she was nice to be around. I always told myself that if I was going to date anyone, it'd be her. Since I first saw her, I thought she was the one. She was just so nice and sweet. I never thought she'd even be remotely interested in me, being the little punk I was. Then, I realized you were probably going to get her heart in the end. I had no shot..."

We stopped, silent. I grabbed at the air. It felt like a hand slipping through my fingers. I dug my nails into my palms, trying to hold back tears.

"...but when I did, it felt like seven minutes in heaven because she just slipped away from me... so fast." I let go, unclenching my fist.

"At least it wasn't your fault." Archie tried to soothe me. I whipped around on him with questioning eyes.

"But what if it was? What if I didn't go after the Serpents? What if I stayed at home? We might've gotten out of Riverdale! What if I had went to the graveyard with you guys? Maybe then, she wouldn't have been so mad at me, and she might've went with me instead of Veronica. What if I had been a better boyfriend? Maybe then, she wouldn't have..." my voice trailed off, tears ready to form in my eyes.

Archie wrapped his arms around me. I tensed at his touch, but found myself relaxing as he wasn't quitting anytime soon. I buried my head in his chest, wrapping my arms around his neck.

"I don't know, Arch, maybe things just had to work out this way." I said, meekly removing myself from his comforting grasp.

"Jug, take your own advice. You can't just live on maybe's and what-if's. You have to focus on the here's and now's," Archie said.

I nodded somberly. He took my hand and we continued on our path to the Blossom Mansion.

Curiously enough, everyone thought it had burnt down. I suppose they got the firefighters there in the nick of time. What possessed Cheryl to burn it down, I have no idea. I would take a right estimate and say it had something to do with wanting to remove the horrible past from her home. It was a very silly way to do it, and honestly reminded me of something people only did in fiction for the metaphor. She had the right amount of insanity to do it.

On our way there, though we took the back alley paths, we couldn't help but notice hundreds of hordes of zombies moving down the same streets. It was as if they were being marched by a band leader. We had seen it before, but we never imagined they'd be going in our direction. The dead were all going to the Blossom Mansion.

Judging by the way the front yard appeared from a distance, it seemed they were already there. I wondered what could attract them so. All I knew was that they liked bright lights and human flesh. Must have been a lot of that up there.

It didn't change our minds, however, and we kept going. I needed answers, and Archie needed Veronica. The sun was nowhere near its time to shine, so we basically had all the time in the world to think of how to avoid all the zombies.

We couldn't just walk right up to the front door. Or could we? My mind ran through all the possible solutions to our problem and it always came back to the same one.

As we approached the gate, I took Archie aside and relayed to him my plan. I was going to enter the mansion by myself and open the back gate for him. He understood and set off towards the back of the house which was completely deserted. I walked up to the front.

Somehow, I was able to walk past zombies undetected, and had just come to accept it. I believe it was because I had become one of them unknowingly. So, I used this to my advantage and slipped by a good lot of them. It was only slightly unnerving to see the faces of people I previously knew. One standing right by the door caught my off-guard.

"Hey, Ethel." I greeted the dead woman clawing at the wall next to the door. She turned around with a grunt. I could see where my knife had struck her neck. "I thought I tossed you into the river. Did you see Jason down there? No, of course not." I mused, chuckling to myself.

She gave no reply, so I rung the doorbell of the mansion and awaited an answer.

Veronica appeared at the door. We were both surprised to see each other. She was sort of happy in a way to see me.

"You got the letter, I take it?" she asked, inviting me in before the zombies could follow after.

"Of course. Otherwise, this would be the last place I'd be looking for you. Archie's at the backdoor, by the way." I informed her.

"I know. We got him in as soon as we saw him," Veronica said. She began leading me to what I assumed was the dining area.

"Listen, you have to tell me what happened at the Whyte Wyrm. How did it get burnt down and how'd you get here? Why did they want me specifically?" I questioned her.

She hesitated before answering, "I don't know."

I was taken aback. "What do you mean, you don't know? How could you not know?"

"Amnesia." Veronica shrugged.

We arrived at the dining room. It was elegant, and nothing I didn't expect from the Blossom's. It connected to the kitchen, foyer, and living area. Paintings hung on every wall, decorative statues in every corner. A massive chandelier which looked as if it could crash down at any second, the way it was swinging, hung from the ceiling—I wished it would. The dining table in the center sat eight and was draped in a crimson cloth. It was already set.

Veronica seated me in the chair at the opposite end of the head of the table. Archie was already sitting diagonally from me. He seemed extremely anxious, but also silent. I took notice that none of the Blossom's had arrived yet. I stared at Veronica until she disappeared into the kitchen. When the door opened, I heard whisperings, but it felt as if they were only for me. They asked, " _Is he here?_ " It almost made me wonder what they were hiding in there.

As soon as she left, I pounced at the chance to relay my suspicions to Archie.

"Dude, something's seriously fucked up about this whole situation." I whispered harshly. "I feel like they're going to serve us a human person."

"Calm down, Jug. Maybe you're just overreacting. They might be trying to be genuine." Archie whispered back out of the corner of his mouth. He eyed the kitchen door, cautiously awaiting Veronica's return. "Did you think Veronica was being a little odd?"

"Little is an understatement. She said she didn't know anything about anything that just happened." I replied.

"We'll make it out alive, at least," Archie said.

I leaned back in my chair and gazed up at the chandelier. Hopefully it would just come down and end it all.

The hairs on the back of my neck pricked when I heard a familiar voice. It was sweet and lovely, almost like... _no, it couldn't have been, could it?_

"Archie! Jughead! So nice to see you both!"

I looked behind my shoulder to see Betty's older sister, Polly walk in from the foyer. She was dressed nicely and her hair was up in a bun. I questioned where her children were as she didn't appear to be carrying in the slightest.

"How come you're here? I thought you were staying with the Cooper's again?" Archie asked what I didn't want to question aloud.

"Oh, I thought this was just safer for my children than somewhere you know nothing about." Polly answered with an asmmetrical smile. She sat two seats away from me.

The way she spoke made it seem as if she was still pregnant. I studied her figure and immediately came to the opposite conclusion. I looked up at eyes with a furrowed brow, telling her without speaking that I was questioning her. Her face brought up some inquiries as well, like why she had a cut lip and bruises under her eyes. Notably, she was wearing a long-sleeved floor-length dress.

"I know you're dating my sister, but you don't have to look at me like that." Polly turned away.

"We're not dating anymore." I looked down at my clasped hands.

"You didn't break her heart?" Polly asked with what felt to me like false concern.

I pondered over whether or not to tell her a lie, half of, or the full truth. I opted for the second choice, and simply told her, "Betty's dead."

Polly gasped and looked down, seemingly not knowing how to take the message. She sat in silence for the rest of the time we waited for the Blossom's to come out.

Veronica came back from the kitchen—once again, I heard the whisperings—and sat next to Archie. Her expression was distraught and somewhat disgusted. Not by any of us, as she had come out of the kitchen door looking that way. When Archie tried to question her, she just shook her head. I found it suspicious, and I wanted to know what was going on, but I couldn't, for fear of losing my life or theirs.

Finally, Cheryl, donning a knee-length, low cut scarlet cocktail dress, came out of the kitchen(the whisperings, again), carrying a large bottle of red wine. She poured some in each glass out upon the table, but I didn't think we'd be having more than five people there. She placed the bottle down on the table and disappeared behind the kitchen door before I could get a chance to speak with her.

I brought the glass to my lips and allowed it to sit there whilst I thought. Knowing them, it might have been blood instead of wine. Then again, perhaps they weren't that evil. I took a hesitant sip, and was pleasantly surprised that it was indeed wine.

Still, I didn't trust them, and that was the last sip I took. For all I knew, it could've been drugged, poisoned, or all a ploy to get us drunk. Not that Archie or Veronica cared much. In fact, Archie downed his glass in one drink. I could already see his cheeks becoming rosy.

"So, Veronica. How has Cheryl been treating you?" I asked, trying to make small talk.

"Very nicely. She's so sweet." Veronica bragged on her. I nodded, squinting. Of course someone who kidnapped and threatened to kill you would be totally sweet.

I grabbed Archie's hand with a death grip. He was shocked by my forwardness. "Listen, Arch, the second we get the chance, let's take Veronica and Polly, and get out of here," I whispered.

"Of course." Archie agreed.

I removed my hand from his and brought it around the stem of my glass. I wanted to appear compliant.

Cheryl returned with platters of food in hand. She laid them in the middle of the table, and disappeared to get more. When she finally returned and took a seat at the table between me and Polly, I began questioning her without any hesitation.

"What's going on, Cheryl, why did you invite us here?" I asked.

"I didn't." Cheryl replied.

"It was signed your name, but that wasn't you?"

"No, I had nothing to do with anything here. I'm not even sure myself what's happening anymore," she said, staring down at her lap.

"You should. I'm assuming your mother has something to do with this?" I asked.

Cheryl shook her head. "She's gone."

Veronica glared at me and moved her finger across her neck, meaning for me to be quiet. When Polly and Cheryl glanced her way, Veronica sat back in her chair with a blank expression.

I stared at the kitchen door. The whisperings were getting louder, angrier, yet still they sounded like a hush. Nothing else seemed to be coming out, so I looked back at the center of the table. Archie was already grabbing for a piece of of the turkey in the middle of the all the dishes. Even I had some self control.

But, eventually, everyone else noticed that I, the self-proclaimed food lover, had an empty plate. I took a patch of salad and kept it at that.

"I didn't know you became a vegetarian." Archie joked, his mouth full.

I couldn't just outright say I didn't trust the Blossom's to serve non-toxic food, but thankfully I didn't have to.

Distracting all of us from the train of conversation was the real host of the party coming out of the kitchen: Jason Blossom.

* * *

 _Author's Note: well, i blame sabrina, but now is no time to be pointing fingers :(_


	14. Resident Evil

_Author's Note: i had a character named Jason once. He was hella gay and loved whales._

 _this Jason... the former is questionable, but I don't think he's a fan of whales as much as he might be of human flesh..._

* * *

When the Blossom murder case was solved, somehow, everything went back to normal, resolved. That spring night, however, none of us expected that the murder case was literally coming back to life.

I hadn't laid my eyes on him in person at the time he emerged from the ground, but I understood the gist of the story from the account given to the Register by the gravekeeper. Apparently, Jason punched his way out of his coffin—his knuckles were reported bloody—and dug his way out of the grave. It was all a little hard to believe.

But, I couldn't argue with the testimonies of Archie, Betty, and Veronica. They claimed to have seen the man in the rotting flesh, so who was I to deny the word of my friends?

Even still, the whole thing seemed suspicious, and evidence was piling up that it couldn't be true. Two weeks into the apocalypse told me that a bullet to the brain was the end of it. That was the mark of Jason's death.

Yet, here we were, sitting before a perfectly breathing Jason Blossom. His eyes, their color a reflecting emerald, were set far back in his head, making them appear to be glowing against a black background. His body was emaciated, and nowhere did that shine through better than his skull. There were parts of his flesh missing as if he cut off the parts that hung over the rest and his jaw had been sewn back on. His hair was still the brilliant red it had always been, reminding me slightly of Archie's, though Archie's was a tad darker. Jason was dressed in a crimson tuxedo, a white undershirt, beige jeans, and a maroon tie nearly hidden by the high collar of his suit.

Like Archie and Veronica, I couldn't help but stare at the bullet hole right in the middle of his head. Jason shone a toothy smile at us, but we couldn't look away.

He took a seat at the head of the table, kissing Polly's hand as he did so, but very reluctantly, I noticed. Still, he had the same charming aura about him as he always did from what I had seen of him, but even then, he struck me as untrustworthy as the rest of the Blossom's.

"I'm very glad you all have made it." Jason held his arms out with gratitude. "Everything seems to have been leading us to this moment! Let us have an enjoyable time."

"What a prayer." I made the snarky aside to Archie who was barely paying attention.

I was ready to ignore Jason completely and try not to look a gift horse in the mouth, but everything was just wrong about this whole scenario. I had to question it because Polly and Cheryl were indoctrinated not to, Veronica was scared out of her wits, and Archie was being too positive to look at the horrifying negatives.

"So, Jason, why did you call me here?" I asked, taking a bite of the salad afterward. It wasn't poisoned from what I could tell.

Jason looked up at me from his plate, startled and caught off-guard. He had been cutting a piece of turkey with a steak knife and my heart froze for a second, feeling that there was nothing stopping him from throwing it at me. When he was done staring me down, he licked his lips and returned his gaze to his plate.

"I've noticed you around and I thought it would be nice to actually invite you over to talk, Forsythe. You seem like an interesting guy. Besides, you were writing a book based around my death. What better time to converse than the apocalypse?" Jason responded.

I raised a brow. "That's all well and good, but riddle me this, why did you have to kidnap Veronica to do it?"

Veronica's eyes widened and she dropped her utensils, leaning back in her seat and staring at her plate blankly. Cheryl and Polly exchanged looks of worry. Archie held his breath.

"Oh, that? Merely a joke." Jason laughed with a calm air about him. He sipped on his glass of wine and continued, "My sister and I thought it was the only way to get you here. You naturally avoided us like the plague."

"A joke, huh? And burning down the Whyte Wyrm, that was just a joke too?" I pursued, my voice becoming tenser.

Archie coughed loudly and grabbed the bottle of wine. He poured himself another glass.

"No, it had already happened. Cheryl just so happened to be passing by on one of her scavenge hunts. She likes to look for mementos from our previous lives, you know, before all of this." Jason explained with confidence.

I rolled my eyes. "So, what happened to Penelope, Jason?" I inquired, not caring about stepping on anyone's toes at this point.

Jason stood abruptly, gaining everyone's attention and drawing it away from myself. "I suppose everyone's ready for dessert, then? Cheryl, be a dear and help me. Polly, I need you to fetch another bottle of wine." he winked at Archie who sunk in his seat embarrassedly.

I watched Polly and the redheaded twins disappear into the kitchen and turned my attention to Archie.

"Did you hear him? That made no sense! Kidnapping Veronica was just a joke? What in the world does any of this mean?" I burst out.

"Jughead, no one heard him say any of that," Archie said.

I furrowed my brow and laughed meekly. "No, you're just pulling my leg, Arch, right?"

"I'm sorry." Veronica apologized, cringing at my actions. "He never spoke a word."

"I wasn't just imagining it, I swear." I defended myself adamantly.

"Just stay quiet when he comes back." Archie suggested. I nodded, understanding his advice.

It was extremely awkward when he came back. I was silent, but I could've sworn he was still talking to me, trying to get some kind of word out of me. I could actually hear him, but when I looked up, his lips were sealed and still talking. They were simple phrases repeated and more like the whispers I heard from the kitchen. My mind wandered as I pondered over his pointed questions about myself. Memories I thought I had buried began resurfacing.

Finally, a voice which was too low of a whisper for me to identify asked, "You just can't get over her, can you?" My eyes widened and I choked briefly on a tomato. I squinted at Jason who sat across from me. He wore a devilish smirk as he avoided my gaze.

Abruptly, and gaining the attentions of everyone at the table, I stood, a cold sweat pouring down my face. "Jason, I think I'd like to retire for the night. You don't mind showing me to the guest room?" I asked.

Jason nodded, but still remained in his seat. He looked over to Polly. Again, I heard a whisper, "Take him away."

I heard another, "I'll gladly walk him up."

"No, it must be her. I don't want you two together, who knows what he might find out what with your big mouth," the previous voice replied.

Veronica looked between me and Jason with frantic eyes. She motioned her fork downwards as she glared at me. I sent her a confused look. "Sit down!" she said through her teeth. Apparently no one could hear this conversation either.

"It's fine, Jughead, I'll take you to the room the three of you will be staying in," Polly said, standing. She gave an unsure look to Jason who nodded for her to go.

Once we were upstairs and away from the rest of the table, I tried questioning Polly.

"Polly, didn't you hear him when I was talking to him?" I asked.

"I heard every word." Polly nodded. "You were stepping into some territories you'd be better off ignoring."

"Why didn't Archie or Veronica hear me?" I smirked, just happy that I wasn't going completely crazy.

Polly opened a door which I assumed was to the guest room. She hesitated before answering, looking down at the floor with a sort of sadness. "Jughead, they're just... not like us." Polly breathed, clenching her fists at her sides.

I grabbed her hands before she could dig her nails into her palms and held them up so she would stop. She released her tension and sighed, staring at our clasped hands.

"How did my baby sister die?" Polly asked, her lip quivering. I examined the situation. If I told her that Veronica killed her, she might go after her. Not that I had a problem with that, it was just the issue of us seeking shelter after we all would likely get kicked out. If I just told her she was bitten, that might raise suspicion. I figured it'd be best to just tell the truth and let the events flow as they should.

"She was bitten and asked to be put down before she turned." I winced inwardly at my word choice, but I don't think it would've helped if I had used "murdered" instead of "put down."

"'Put down'? You make it sound like she was an animal." Polly took her hands from mine and held onto the open door, her nails scratching into it.

I avoided her appalled gaze and tried to rethink things. "I'm sorry if it came off that way, but that's what happened to her."

"How? How did they kill her? Who did it?" Polly persisted. I'd have given her points for persistence, but it was really disadvantaging toward me.

"Seven bullets to the brain." I purposely avoided the last question.

"You murdered her, didn't you?" Polly seethed, digging her nails into the door further. "Jason said I can't kill you, but I'll make sure you know how it feels." she appeared ready to leave.

"Polly," I began, holding up a hand. She flinched and protected her head. I paused to take in the fear settled in her bruised blue eyes. "Polly, I know how it feels to have lost a younger sister. I wasn't there for her either. If you'd just let me explain..." I trailed off, staring away from her.

"I don't care. Nothing you can say or do will help me." Polly rubbed her eyes and turned away towards her room.

As I stood in the frame of the doorway, I thought of her words. Why would Jason not want me dead? I suppose her assuming I killed her sister was for the best because who knew what might happen to Veronica. Not that I cared, it just wouldn't have allowed me to rest at night, thinking of how I single-handedly ended her life by exposing her to someone potentially extremely dangerous.

I turned around to look over the railing of the second floor down at the foyer on the first. Veronica was being led up to the guest room by Cheryl.

"We all might have to drag Archie up. I don't know if he can even stand." Veronica tittered.

"I can't believe he had such a dirty mind. I suppose everything just comes right out after a couple of glasses of wine." Cheryl shrugged with a giggle.

"A glass? Cheryl, he nearly drank the whole bottle. Jason had to get another one and Archie almost ran off with it before Jason tackled him." Veronica shook her head, gingerly laughing.

Cheryl rolled her eyes. "At least he didn't drink two bottles. It's almost unfathomable that Jason can even hold a conversation with him right now. I wonder what they're talking about."

Veronica nodded and the two stood still. Veronica pushed up her hair and looked away from Cheryl, making the redhead only want to look into her eyes more.

"Listen, Cheryl, I'm sorry about what happened, and I can't take it back. I'm so sorry if you ever felt like—" Veronica choked. She became distracted by Cheryl's hand guiding her face to her own.

"Don't worry about it. You've done me more good than bad." Cheryl gave a small smile as she looked into Veronica's eyes, entranced. "Now, let me take you..."

Cheryl began to lean in, her eyes closed. Clearly uncomfortable, Veronica noticed me out of the corner of her eye. "Oh! Jughead, you're already here! I guess he can take me to the room, it's fine." Veronica waved the completly confused Cheryl away.

"Just tell me if you need anything. I'll be down here." Cheryl blushed and nodded, disappearing into the living room.

Veronica ran up to me and dragged me into the guest room. I was propelled backward onto one of the two twin beds which were rather neatly made. The whole room gave off the presence of that of a hotel. Veronica shut the door with a slam and pressed her body against it as if bracing for an attack. I raised a brow, curious as to why she had done all this.

"They're insane! You can't breathe a word of this to them, and I don't know if I trust you not to get me killed, but I definitely can't talk to Archie because he is as drunk as a skunk!" Veronica could barely pace her breathing or her words.

"The first thing you need to do is calm down. You're a little loud. Worry about you getting yourself killed before you accuse me." I waved my hands downward, trying to hint that she was acting hastily. "Now can you tell me what happened when Archie left the Whyte Wyrm? Only if you want."

"Yes, I was just getting ready to tell you. Archie chased after you when your dad asked him to, but I think he would've done it anyway." Veronica responded, a hush having come over her.

"Good to know he still cares," I said, referring to my father.

"Then, Cheryl came in, asking for you. When she heard you weren't here, she got kind of mad—well, at first it was kind of like she was scared but that's not the point. It was like a huge coincidence, but all of a sudden, this huge zombie horde came rolling in." Veronica continued.

"Coincidence? Are you sure?" I questioned.

"Yes, they were bursting through windows, and knocking down doors chaotically. There was no order to it. It was horrible. Cheryl dropped a note and took me here. I wanted to go after you and Archie, but she wouldn't let me. I was held at gunpoint, Jughead. I had a weapon, but I was afraid of being slower." Veronica wiped a tear from her eyes. She seemed ready to burst into tears at any moment.

"I would've done the same; you're okay." I assured her.

"We got here, and I saw Jason. Polly was here, but I could see why she would be. I was just curious about him so I tried to ask how he came back. I remembered seeing him at the graveyard, but I thought zombies with any kind of damage to the brain couldn't come back? Cheryl just waved me away. I couldn't help but overhear them talking about you though."

"What was said? Did you get any valuable information?" I asked, eager to know.

"I barely heard it, but they were talking about how they had been watching you from afar. They said you killed somebody. Apparently, you did something that made you special."

I nodded, thinking back to Ethel. Funny how I had seen her near the front door. I was sure that truly was a coincidence.

"Anyway, they also talked about just disposing of me and Archie—that we weren't worthy of their time. Cheryl started becoming angry that Jason wanted me dead, and that's when he noticed that I was listening. Apparently, I wasn't supposed to be in the kitchen. He made me—he made..." Veronica shielded her mouth and cried. "He thought it was a great—" she choked "—"opportunity because he had been wanting to punish Cheryl for something earlier... Jughead, I killed her."

I gasped at her, wide-eyed. "Killed her? She's alive, and not even in the zombie way, Veronica. You didn't. You couldn't." I shook my head. At this point, with a hole in her story, there was no way I could believe her. No one could be believed, it seemed.

Veronica removed her vest and showed me her undershirt, soaked in flesh blood. If it was from a zombie, it wouldn't have glistened like it did.

"It came from her heart." Veronica avoided my judging eyes. "He would've ripped it out with his teeth himself. She wanted a quicker death, but she just came back. He said it was as he had planned."

"I'm sorry you had to go through this... twice." I crossed my arms and looked down. I then thought back to her comment about how this all started. "Veronica, what's in the kitchen?"

Her face become as white as snow as if the color had drained from her face. Her breathing became scant and she stared at the bed diagonal from her. "I'm going to hit the hay." Veronica bit her cheeks. "I'm exhausted."

"Veronica, what's in the kitchen?" I repeated, louder this time.

She flipped the covers up and got in the bed, her back facing me. I nearly got up and yelled even louder, but common courtesy got the best of me and I let it go.

The door of our bedroom was soon kicked open. Jason led Archie into the room with a firm hand on the wobbling boy who was holding onto a bottle of wine with a hard grip. Archie fell into Jason's arms, surprising him.

"Archibald, please don't," Jason said with a repulsed snarl.

"I cannot thank you enough for everything, Jason, you're wonderful." Archie slurred, his smile wide as he spoke. "Hey, have you ever kissed anybody?" Archie reached up and locked lips with Jason.

I had to laugh at this, but Jason squinted and pushed Archie off of him, brushing himself off. He turned and looked at me with an expression of utter disgust. My face became serious at this.

"After you've assured that he's in bed safely, please see me in the den." Jason quickly regained his composure. He pulled up the cuffs of his tuxedo, and with that, he shut the door and left.

"What was that?" I chuckled with a smirk at Archie. Even though we had shared a moment at Pop's, I didn't really care if he was romantic with anybody else as I wasn't exactly trying to date him anyway.

"You've never heard of a thank-you-smooch?" Archie gasped. He tipped the bottle up to his lips before hesitating. He held it out to me, but took it back when I shook my head.

"Arch, you might want to put that down and sleep." I snickered. I was kind of glad that he was able to take it easy like this.

Archie nodded and kissed me on the forehead forcefully, nearly pushing me. My face scrunched up in laughter.

"That was a good-night-kiss," Archie said.

Since I was sitting on the edge of the bed on the left, Archie joined Veronica in the one on the right. She was sleeping up against the wall anyway. At least they seemed safe up there where no dead people were walking around.

I slipped out and into the darkness of the house. Once I was in the foyer, I noticed Cheryl lighting candles on the way to what I assumed was the den. I followed her path all the way to my destination. Once I was there, she took a left and disappeared where I went forward.

* * *

 _Author's Note: no one ever listens. This wallpaper glistens._


	15. House of the Dead

_Author's Note: sometimes I wonder what Jason was actually like in the show. This is probably not it, but BOI, do I love writing it._

 _also tell me what you guys are thinking so far! I love reviews~_

* * *

Lit up by a crackling fireplace, the den gave off the vibe of a place where a serious meeting could be held. Shelves lined the walls, and along them were assorted knickknacks; mostly snow globes and miniature landmarks. In the middle of it all, directly facing the flames, were two leather chairs. One was occupied.

As I had gotten closer and closer to the room, there was that same whispering from the dining room again, and this time, it became louder and louder with each step. Thankfully, it was only one voice, saying only one word, "come," but the volume and pitch of it beating into my eardrums was enough to make me double over in pain.

I collapsed in the doorway, holding my ears. I laid there for a good minute as I tried to get to my feet and ignore the voice. On hands and knees I crawled to the unoccupied chair, and once my nails dug into the leather, as if I had reached the finish line, the voice stopped abruptly.

I pulled myself over and sunk into the seat. I barely recognized Jason(who stared deeply into the fire)as sight rather than sound due to the trauma put upon my ears. One thing was for sure; he still had better posture than I at that moment even as he mimicked The Thinker. I was ready to sink out of the chair and just melt.

"What attracted you to me, Forsythe? What infatuated you?" came Jason's first questions. It was like a whisper now.

I attempted speech, but as it was too loud, I held my tongue and then cleared my throat. "I'm sorry, but I didn't have a crush on you or anything. I just figured it'd be an interesting story to follow."

"I'm sure you're curious to know how your main character came back to life?" Jason lolled his head to study me with beady green eyes.

"Well, Archie was my main character, but I suppose I have been wondering." I bit my lip.

Jason smiled small. It was the kind of grin that alerted you to the foul intentions of its owner, but didn't give you a scale of how foul it would be from them thinking dirty thoughts about you to flat-out wanting to murder you and your friends.

"I should start from the beginning. The whole reason I ran away was not for Polly. I don't care what that worthless wench says." Jason spat with a suddenly intense hatred. I jumped a little in my seat from the tone of his voice, especially concerning Polly. He eyed me with a liking for my fear. He continued, "I ran away because I was a fool who was afraid. I was afraid of the potential that the cordyceps my father imported contained. He had such strength over me. He controlled my every thought; my every whim; my every emotion."

Jason looked up and just breathed.

"It was amazing." he was breathless. His tone soon became more excited. "I hadn't realized anybody could be so powerful. I was just too young to understand, so I deserted my family and used Polly as an excuse. Then, just when it seemed that everything in my body was shutting down, I was revived by the cordyceps still in my system. Buried alive, I had been chipping away at my coffin for quite a while. All is speculation here, but I'd say my rotting roots spread the cordyceps to the other dead in the graveyard."

"So... this cordyceps... what is it? Were you exposed to it by the syrup?" I inquired. I smirked at the absurd question I had just asked.

"Oh, don't I wish... You see, cordyceps... well. It's a fungus that, when in the wild, takes over the minds of bugs and controls them, ordering them to take out the rest of the army and infecting each and every last insect until they've all been assimilated." Jason paused, seeming to have forgotten my second question. He leaned back in his seat and smirked. "We're not all that bad, Forsythe. We just have an agenda. Oh, and you've been very quiet. You've nothing to say?"

"That's interesting." I nodded, trying not to do or say anything to get on his bad side. Though he hadn't shown it, already, I could tell it would spell the end for me and possibly Archie.

He inhaled and exhaled briefly. He gave a sly grin as he faced downward, but peered up at me, making it look as if he had no eyes whatsoever.

"I control the horde, and I can control you."

My heart skipped a beat as the words left his lips. I furrowed my brow and bit my lip, staring into the fire since I had no response. What could be said in reply to such a statement of dominance?

Trying to forget what I had just heard, I looked over at the stand table next to me. Under a snow globe used as a paperweight were three notes. They were all the same ones from the Whyte Wyrm except instead of "Veronica", they each either said "Archie", "Kevin", or "Betty". The feeling that this whole meeting had been constructed behind the scenes now resurfaced completely, and I ached to leave.

Jason quickly stood. I flinched and sunk further into my seat, staring at him as if he had just heard my thoughts. Frightened, I tried to look away from him, but somehow he always caught my eyes. I figured there was no use anymore.

Smirking, Jason leaned against the top of the fireplace, his backside to me. He seemed overly confident in whatever he was planning. In his hands, he fidgeted with a miniature Eiffel Tower. It was one of many.

"You can't keep them around _forever_ , Forsythe. Something must be done." Jason murmured like a concerned parent.

I turned my head, confused. "What do you mean?"

Jason shook his head, chortling. He began to pace in front of the fireplace. "We're going to outlive them. We're immortal. Cordyceps rebuilds the structure of the body when it becomes damaged. We will live forever." he spoke slowly so that I could perceive the weight of his words.

I opened my mouth to speak, but no words came out. The revelation that I could have anything in common to Jason was so powerful that I could barely think. I was drawing a blank check. There was something I didn't understand, but I couldn't exactly phrase it at that point despite being such a wordsmith.

Jason looked over his shoulder with a wide grin. It was almost as if he had read my mind. "You're infected. No, not by a bite, but by the syrup. Most have an immunity to it the virus within, and others simply dislike the taste, so they avoid it. You're different."

"But, I don't quite get it." I squinted, trying to understand. "Why has this only happened now? What stopped Riverdale from becoming a zombie apocalypse five— ten— maybe fifteen years ago?"

With a toothy smile, Jason turned back to facing the fireplace. He bent down and laid the Eiffel Tower into the grabbing hands of the flying cinders. He then stood and knelt in front of me. I scooted back in my seat as much as I could, too uncomfortable for words.

"The reason all of this started? _Me_."

Jason burst into laughter like a madman who laughs at his own jokes and thinks they are insanely funny. It was quite disturbing to see the thread which brought his jaws together beginning to become strained. Finally the thread snapped and his jaw became unhinged and hung by the sewing catastrophe on the other side, leaving his tongue a lolling mess.

At this, I leapt onto my chair and tried to get away, tripping over its arm. The back landed on my neck and I uttered a horrible noise, finally getting the attention of Jason whom I could've mistaken for a hyena. I scrambled to my feet and made for the door, but the whisperings began again, this time screaming, "GET BACK HERE!" and rendered me to my knees. I held my shoulders and shook terribly.

Though my ears rang with what I now knew was Jason's voice as I could hear his intonements clearly, all I could think of was everything that had happened because of the apocalypse. To hear that he proclaimed himself to be the cause of it all really put things in perspective. It was like my life was flashing before my eyes.

Everything seemed to have been leading up to this moment. The imploding destruction of Riverdale... the solemn burning of the Whyte Wyrm... the abrupt end of Betty... it was all carefully constructed by Jason's hands.

Jason sauntered in front of me and knelt again. He pushed me onto my back and held me down with a foot on my chest. I was helpless against the voices in my head and the brute force displayed by the ex-football player.

"So tell me, Forsythe, just _who_ do you think led you here? _I_ told my army to blockade the exit to Riverdale. _I_ told the driver of that Mustang to crash into you. _I_ told Reggie to break into your silly little hangout. _I_ told Joaquin to rip that idiot's throat out. _I_ told Cheryl to burn down the Whyte Wyrm. I _killed_ Betty Cooper," Jason said, his jaw bouncing up and down comedically throughout.

"You're a sick son of bitch!" I screamed.

He leaned down with his hands behind his back as if trying to keep some kind of chaste in his display of power. "How's this, Forsythe—and I'll let you mull it over until morning—but I need you to help me."

"What makes you think I want to help you?" I spat, struggling under him.

"I don't need your permission, I'm just asking out of common courtesy and respect. It's not often someone writes a book about you. It would be perfect. One about my death, and a sequel about my resurrection. You've got the knack for journalism that I need." Jason's lips became too close for comfort as he continued in a whisper, "I need you to help me with this."

I was done struggling. I let myself go limp, and I looked off to the side, sighing. "And if I don't?"

Devilishly, Jason grinned from ear to ear. "I'll let you fill in the blanks. I'm sure Ms. Lodge has already told you the horrific truth about our fateful meeting. Truth be told, you'd be a very good asset. We could be friends—partners, even. Should you choose to accept my deal, we will remove ourselves from Riverdale and rebuild society from the smoldering ashes of my apocalypse. As my wordsmith-scribe, you'll have to do a great deal of talking and writing for me. But, I think you'll be fine."

Jason stood erect and stepped away from me. I rose to my knees and watched his actions. He pulled a drawer out from a desk and produced what seemed to be a sewing kit. He laid it on the stand table nearest me and sat on the arm of the chair next to it. Paralyzed with fear, all I could do was sit and watch his work sewing his jaw back on in disgust as the needle moved in and out of his flesh.

With a gross disliking, Jason peered over at me as if he was disturbed that I was watching him. He stopped mid-pull-through of the needle. "You're dismissed. Get some sleep. Think my offer over."

But I wasn't going to do that. First thing in the morning, I was taking Archie, Veronica, Polly, and Cheryl out of the mansion no matter what it took. Even if I had to _die_ to ensure their safety, I would do it.

I stumbled over and pushed myself up onto my feet. I swayed out of the door and the first chance I got, I hunched over a trash can. I remained there for a solid few minutes, but nothing happened. I hadn't eaten and I wasn't planning on it.

Darkness and misery took hold of the halls and the mansion as a whole. No longer were the candles lit. I felt no presence of anyone besides myself and Jason whom I was trying to forget.

Somehow, I made my way back up to the guest room where a rather amusing sight befell my eyes. I would've laughed if not for the scarring meeting I had just had with Jason.

Archie leaned his head up from his position on the floor to see me walk in. He was laying sprawled out beneath the bed without even a pillow or cover to cushion him. Veronica seemed comfortable with the pillows and sheets to herself on the bed.

"I'd ask what happened, but I'm honestly afraid to." I rolled my eyes at Archie's silliness.

"Veronica kicked me out of the bed because I snored." Archie explained.

"Why didn't you just get in my bed?" I crossed my arms, chuckling.

"You were gone and I figured it'd be an invasion of your privacy. Most stuff is." he shrugged.

I scoffed. "Well, come on then."

Pulling the cover back, I slid into the bed, only pausing for Archie to jump in. He wore a smirk worthy of my lips and was obviously enjoying himself. We were a good distance apart as, even though he spread himself out, I curled up, holding my knees to my chest.

I attempted to drift off and dream of better things. Like the days before the apocalypse when I could eat pancakes and not feel guilty. Bliss.

* * *

 _Author's Note: hasp_

 _jason killed bughead_


	16. Lollipop Chainsaw

_Author's Note: Shortest chapter besides the first! It's barely 2000 words. S a d._

 _Speaking of 2000, we finally reached 2000 views! Isn't that just dandy?_

* * *

"Do you think it was destiny?" she asked me.

I stared up at the pink sky, my hands under my head, my legs crossed, and a small smile placed upon my lips. There was a book beside me, but it didn't hold my interest for long. I tried to ignore the question for as long as I could to instead watch the clouds like cotton candy drift overhead. To answer would have put an emotional weight on me that I could not stand to bear.

Laying next to me, she turned her head with concern at my silence. I could see in the oceans she called eyes the worry she felt for me. Her brows came together, and she looked away from me and up at the sky which shone down on her rosy cheeks and blue lips.

In a move of mischief, I moved over on my side and allowed my hand to play with her ponytail with a secretive delight. The strands entwined between my fingers slipped away as she pulled her head from me, laughing as I was caught.

With eyes closed, she pulled her knees to her chin. I sat somewhat, propped up by my lower arm and alarmed at this action of hers. I edged nearer, but she turned her head away from me.

"It wasn't meant to be," she said, all happiness drained from her voice. I didn't want her to feel this way. Especially not now when we were having such a nice moment.

"Don't say that!" I pleaded. "We're going to be alright," I said, but I concentrated solely on grabbing for her hand. She held it away no matter what I did.

She pulled up on her long, white wedding dress and stood. Her veil had been pulled back already. I darted after her as she walked away. Closely, I followed, but it seemed that she was always one step ahead of me.

"Please, come back!" I screamed out for her, but she gave no reply, instead continuing to walk along a path of pink-tinged meadow grass.

I wouldn't give up on her. I ran as quickly as my legs would carry, but it felt as if I was skidding backwards for every dash forward. She was slipping out of my sight. My mind was racing with Thought. I couldn't give up.

Finally, she turned around at the edge of a cliff overlooking with charcoal water. I reached out a hand, but she fell back and disappeared out of sight, her figure consumed only by mere Memory. I was numb to move. There was nothing I could do. I was completely paralyzed. I closed my eyes and screamed.

But then, when I opened them again, all was quiet for the most part. I could hear the gentle breeze blowing against the grass beneath me and a couple of jays tweeting.

Looking around, I surmised that this was where I was just seconds ago. She was there, lying down once more and I laid beside her again on my back. Also, the book was there again. Its cover was blank, I now noticed.

"Do you think it was destiny?" she asked again.

I gulped, not knowing how to respond. If I gave her silence, she would just run away again. I didn't really know how to feel about it.

"I don't know." I answered truthfully.

Her expression told me that the response wasn't totally agreeable with her. She rose to a sitting position and eyed me with a suddenly intense hatred. I backed away.

"What do you mean, 'you don't know'? You either know or you don't know." she chided.

I held up my hands. "I'm sorry, I just don't know."

I backed up to get away from her and soon she was standing above me. Behind me, I felt someone approach and lift me up to my feet. I struggled to get out of their grasp, but found myself unable to. Guilt held me back from screaming out for her as she departed from my sight.

I tried closing my eyes again, and when I reopened them, we were back to square one. I was laying on my back watching the clouds, and she was laying beside me. A peaceful smile was planted on her blue-painted lips.

I looked over at the book and tried to grab it, but it burned my hand as if it was coated in hellfire, making me shout out in pain.

"Do you think it was destiny?" she asked, turning over to me.

Heart heavy and mind scarred by my past two experiences with this question, I wasn't sure how to answer this time. I had tried to be neutral, but it looked like now I had to choose one or the other.

"No, I don't believe in destiny. I think anything can be changed," I said, trying to say what I thought she wanted to hear; the positive.

Tears welled up in her eyes as she leaned forward, sitting up. Like a faucet, tears poured down without end. I moved to hug her close to my chest and quell the pain she had felt, and I even tried kissing her on the forehead, but nothing happened to stop her crying.

I needed to do something to cease her sobbing, but there was no visible way. Soon, her tears created puddles that grew into pools that soon envelopes us. At the risk of drowning, I pulled us both up to stand.

"Why didn't you save me? Why didn't you go with me?" she screamed, digging her nails into my hands as they were entwined. I flinched in pain.

The sorrow came up to our necks and at that point I had no response. It didn't even seem that now I would be saved. Completely underwater, I tried to open my eyes, but they burned from the salt. I screamed as she fell limp in my arms. I was drowned in Sorrow.

When I opened my eyes again, I was back with her, laying in the grassy field.

She leaned over me and adjusted the black bow tied around my neck. I was disturbed to see her again and having to look in her glassy eyes didn't help. She then took the top hat from my head and laid back down, placing it on her chest.

"Do you think it was destiny?" she asked.

I thought for a second, staring up at the white sun ascending in the sky. "That doesn't matter."

She rose, startled by my answer.

I continued, "I don't care if it was destiny, because I can't go back change it anyway. You're dead, and there's nothing I can do to bring you back."

She held her hands over her eyes and silently wept. I put an arm under and one over her, consoling her. I removed her hands and looked into her eyes with surety.

"What happened, happened, and I'm sorry that it did," I said, brushing back her hair. "And I know you can't really hear this, but I love you. I wanted to live a long, happy life with you forever, but we just didn't get the chance. It didn't work out that way. I'm grateful to have enjoyed your presence, but you're gone now. I have to learn from you and protect the people who are still alive."

"How heroic," she said, before meeting my lips in a kiss, staining my lips with her blue, "but don't you wish you could change the past?"

I scoffed and stared at her as if she was crazy. I began laughing, and laughed so hard that tears started falling from my eyes and down her cheeks. "Of course I do!, but if I kept thinking back to the past time and time again for the rest of my life, I couldn't focus on the here and now."

She smiled and laughed. "What a clever response. I expected nothing less from you." She pointed to the book beside me. "Can you hand me that?"

I hesitated, but complied, picking it up without a single surge of pain. I gave it to her and she opened it, producing a pen from within it. She signed it and handed it to me.

Looking down at the text, it was all squiggles. I couldn't make anything out except for the last two lines being there for signatures and hers reading, "Elizabeth Jones." I signed my name and laid the book back down.

I pulled Betty close and laid with her for what felt like an eternity. What happened next unfolded in super speed. All I remember now was how we talked endlessly of burgers, pancakes, and everything else pure in the world. Then, I closed my eyes.

And when I awoke, I was in the arms of my personal guardian angel, Archie Andrews. Though I was normally touch averse, being enveloped in his touch felt right at that moment after my fateful encounter with Betty in my dreams.

"I'm thinking." Archie mumbled close to my ears, which I believe is what stirred me. I would've mistaken it for sleep talk if not for his barely open eyes.

"About what?" I asked, burying my head in the crook of his neck.

"I'm thinking that I must not have been the only one drunk last night." Archie followed up.

"And what makes you think that?" I chuckled.

"Because you hate anything to do with hugs, cuddles, or spooning." Archie raised a brow.

I gasped at him. "How dare you? I'll have you know that I love spoons. How else am I supposed to eat ice cream?"

"The normal way: with your tongue." Archie scoffed.

"That's rich coming from the guy who bites into it like it's pizza."

"Hey, after having like fifty milkshakes from Pop's over the course of my sixteen years, I'll have you know that my teeth have been naturally predisposed to the cold." Archie slurred through his long statement with a mixture of hangover and sleepiness.

"Shut up." I laughed, combing my hands through his ruffled red hair.

Red hair...

I suddenly jumped up, startling Archie immensely. A cold sweat ran down my face as I hopped out of bed and put my jacket, jeans, and boots back on. All I could think about were Jason's threats and the thought had just come to me to sneak out before he could notice us missing in the morning.

"We have to get the girls and leave, right now." I informed Archie.

* * *

 _Author's Note: ok but you guys are officially gay or qp, pick one_

 _And for those who don't get the dream sequence, the point is that he's trying to get over Betty. So lemme point out some of the symbolism. Don't read if you want to go back and figure it out!_

 _..._

 _..._

 _..._

 _..._

 _are you good? Ok let's go_

 _..._

 _When he doesn't respond to her question, he's racing with Thought as she runs away. Eventually the pool of Memories consumes her—and since she is a figure of his imagination in this case, him as well._

 _When he says he doesn't know, he's held back by Guilt as he watches her cry and can do nothing about it._

 _When he says what she wants to hear—which is really what he wants to hear because remember, this is a dream and your opinion doesn't matter to your figments of imagination—he drowns in her—his—Sorrow._

 _Her blue lips are a symbol of death._

 _And the last symbol is that the book held divorce papers. At the beginning, he wasn't ready to give her up so the book burned his hand, but the memory he had of Betty was basically telling him to let her go by asking for the book._

 _maybe it would've been more magical and trippy if I never explained it_


	17. Call of Duty

_Author's Note: One chapter left! :') I'm going to miss this fic._

* * *

There were few people who I went out of my way to avoid.

Cheryl and Veronica were these people. Cheryl I could avoid easily since she avoided me most of the time. However, Veronica I was forced to hang out with due to her interest in Archie. We never got along.

One of the reasons was Betty. One time, when we all went out as a group, I had to pick everyone up. Veronica was first since she was closest, and I swear on my life that she leaned over to me from the passenger's seat and told me, "Betty's into black hair." Then, she caught herself, realizing I shared her hair color. "I mean, boobs. She's into boobs."

"She must really like me and Archie. I don't know any dumber boobs." I replied with a quickness that almost scared her.

"Betty likes scissors." Veronica even had the nerve to fist pump because she thought she had the most amazing comeback.

I remember tsking because I couldn't believe she was this bad. "I guess I'll ask her if she wants me to fit scissors into our BDSM routine."

Veronica huffed, her face as red as a rose. "Betty loves me!" It was her last resort.

Her having the audacity to tell me, Betty's boyfriend, this burned me up internally. I put up the front that I didn't care, remaining silent the rest of the way. I never told anybody about it because I didn't think it was a problem even if Veronica and I had a small rivalry. Of course, it turned out to be as the death of Betty had been pinned on Veronica and I was forced to stand her for Archie's sake.

Now, I had to save everyone from Jason, and Veronica was one of these people. No matter what she had done, she didn't deserve to die at the hands of that freak. Who knew what he would do to her.

Archie sat on the edge of the bed with worried eyes that pierced my soul. He had no idea what was going on, and I wasn't inclined to tell him the full of it yet. Just like at the dinner table, he'd probably think I was crazy.

I didn't have a plan. All I knew was that we needed to escape and I had to kill Jason. He was a menace to society that needed to be stopped. He was planning on taking over the world with that cordyceps virus and his zombie army. If I could stop more people from turning, then I could stop his plans. Then, it hit me.

"I need you to go get the girls out of here. I'll meet you all by the barn." I ordered Archie.

"What are you going to do?" Archie turned his head slightly.

Coolly, I slipped the wood cutting knife out of my pocket. "I'm going to kill my main character," I said.

Archie furrowed his brow. "What did Jason do?"

"It's not important right now, just know that he's dangerous, and you need to get the girls and go!" I yelled as I headed out of the door.

I descended the stairs and headed for the den where I had last seen Jason. The fireplace was still crackling, but in the barely lit room, I detected no presence of the undead redhead. Then, one of the snow globes fell from its place on the mantle, making me jump. Disappointed, I set my sights elsewhere: the kitchen.

Meanwhile, Archie was attempting to get Veronica out of bed. She was wide awake and had been the whole night, but just wouldn't get up. Archie tried everything. Promising her things and trying to cheer her up, but nothing worked.

"Ronnie, I'm not going to leave you behind!" Archie cried, exasperated.

Veronica whipped around on him. "You should!" she screamed. Seeing his shocked hurt at this, she turned back over and brought her knees to her chin.

"Why, Ronnie? Why would you want to be left behind where you get killed?" Archie sat beside her.

She turned her head to lock her scared eyes on his worried. "I'm a murderer, Archie."

"No..."

"Yes! I killed Betty, and I killed Cheryl." Veronica argued. "You might be next. Everybody in around just end up getting killed."

"You killed Cheryl? Ronnie? She's still alive." Archie scoffed, unbelieving.

"It's odd, she came back afterwards, but that's not the point, Archie! You can't come back like she can! Betty didn't! What if I kill you?" Veronica choked.

"I— I don't know. In that instance I think you ought to worry about Jughead coming after you." Archie chuckled.

"That's not the point, Archie. _What. If. I. Kill. You_?"

"It's not going to happen."

"And if it does?"

Archie sighed and looked away for a few seconds, pondering. He turned back to her with a look of understanding and solace. "Here's the thing, Veronica. It's the apocalypse, and people are going crazy. You're not one of those people. You and me and Jughead? We're just trying to survive. Betty could have turned into one of those hellspawns outside. You saved her and us. I'm not sure what happened with Cheryl, but I'm sure you were just trying to protect yourself. We're all murderers, Ronnie. A zombie is a human, too. We've all got blood on our hands."

Veronica took a deep breath. "I get it. Let's go." She held out her arms for Archie to pick her up bridal style. The two laughed meekly.

At that time, I had snuck into the dining room. Everything was already eerily quiet, but the room just felt dead. The decorations were all gone, the lights were off, and the chandelier was just swinging, creaking.

My attention ended up stolen by the psychedelic lights going on under the kitchen door. Blue, pink, green. It was odd. Creeping slowly, I poked the knobless door open. Inside, it looked like it was snowing(and sticking). It was dark and I couldn't see anything—just black. What happened to the lights?

Suddenly, I felt a hand on my shoulder. I jumped, skittish. I whipped around on the figure shrouded in the shadow of the room with my knife in hand, clutching its shoulder.

"Jughead! Juggie! It's fine, it's fine. It's just me." it was Archie. I sighed a breath of relief.

"God, Arch! Give me a heart attack, will ya?" I put my hands on my hips. "What are you doing here? You were supposed to take Veronica, Polly, and Cheryl to the barn."

"I know, I just wanted to kill you first." Archie responded calmly.

"What?" I shrieked, tripping backward. I landed with a thud on my back.

A few lights of different neon colors appeared from unknown sources. They reminded me of Pop's signs. Now, I could see the highlights of Archie's figure approach me with an axe.

"Why are you going to kill me?" I asked. "It's me, Jughead, your best friend. You can't."

"You're going to infect every one of us." Archie raised his axe. "I'm going to kill you before you spread the virus!"

"I wouldn't! Archie please!" I screamed.

 ** _Bang bang!_**

Archie dropped the axe behind his head and fell to his knees. I stared at his miserable eyes with a mixture of confusion, anger, and sorrow. His forehead and neck dripped blood. He fell on top of me, and hyperventilating, I somehow managed to throw him off of me. I couldn't believe he would just try to kill me like that. I wouldn't believe it. There was no way that that was Archie.

"See, I told you. This is why you can't have him around, Jughead." I stood and faced the direction of the voice. I couldn't see anything, the place had gone dark again.

"Who are you?" I roared out into the cold darkness, partly angered that it wouldn't show itself and also because it just killed my best friend.

"You don't know the voice of your own future?"

I nearly stumbled over Archie's dead body as the figure came into view with the help of the neon lights. It was me. He had a different outfit on, a black suit and a red tie, and was certainly cleaner, but it was me.

"Face it, Jughead. Jason was right. You're going to outlive them. Eventually, you may even have to kill them. Since you're not really—but kinda are—a zombie now, you're a threat to them. They can't stay. Go with Jason and you'll be on top of everything." I tried to convince myself.

"This isn't real. None of this is real." I told myself.

"Oh come on, Jughead." I squinted at myself. "You're not this dense. Of course it isn't real. You're not even who you say you are." My voice began turning into Cheryl's.

"Go to hell." I marched over to the imposter and forced him to the ground. I slit his neck and stabbed him in the forehead. I winced as I did this.

Hurriedly, I rose. I needed to get out of here as quickly as I could.

But while I was trapped in the kitchen, Archie was really pounding on Polly's door. They were having a hard time getting her to come out.

"Polly we just want to help you!" Veronica pleaded.

This sent Polly into hysterics. Archie eyed Veronica with concern and then kicked the door open. The sight that befell their eyes filled them with horror. Veronica stepped back against the weakly swinging door with her hand over her mouth. Archie ran up to Polly and attempted to comfort her with a hug, but she struggled away from him, quitting to the corner.

Archie stared at her with disbelief and the utmost of concern. Polly was completely naked. Because of this, the line of stitches wrapping all the way around waistline were visible, and the dark bruises coating her figure from head to toe could be seen. There were marks on her lower legs that looked as if she had been dragged, burns on her hips where it seemed her skin was nearly rubbed off, and bruises around her private areas(not to mention her eyes which held ones not able to be seen unless close up).

"Polly, we just want to help." Archie assured her.

"That's what everyone says." Polly cried, her face scrunched up into wretched sobbing. "They say it and then they just take another piece of my humanity. My mother took my sanity, my sister took my heart, and the one I thought I loved took _everything_ that was left and then some."

Archie couldn't help but stare at her. His words failed him and he resorted to stuttering and stammering. The silent Veronica wasn't much better off. Polly turned away and cried.

"Polly, please, we need to get you out of here." Archie managed to say, holding out a hand to put on her shoulder which she flinched away from.

"I can't leave. He won't let me. I shouldn't even be thinking this." Polly gasped out.

"What do you mean, 'thinking this'? He can't possibly..." Archie stood with a face that said he had pieced everything together. "He's telepathic—that's why Jughead could hear him and we couldn't." Archie concluded.

"But why only them? Why not us?" Veronica asked.

Archie peered down at Polly's stitches. "You bled out when he did that, didn't you?"

"He took them from me like this because he said they would hurt me... I died anyway... He's no surgeon... He made mistakes... He blames me." Polly sniffled.

"It's a hive mind of the infected, Veronica. That's how he does it. So that means Jughead..." Archie looked at her with worry. Polly stared up at Archie with the same expression though for a different reason.

" _Damnit, Jughead._ " Veronica cursed. "What do we do? Cheryl's like this too."

Against her wishes, Archie picked Polly up, kicking and screaming. "They haven't bit us yet!" he darted out of the room with her.

"God, don't jinx yourself, Archie!" Veronica called after him as she followed close behind.

At the same time, I was still trying to find my way out of the kitchen. Occasionally, I think I hit walls, but I know for sure, stumbling through all of the snow, I was now covered in the stuff.

"Archie! Help! Veronica, I know we hate each other but I need you! Anyone, please!" I screamed in my isolation.

I couldn't resolve to just sitting and waiting for help—it just wasn't an option when my and my friends' lives were in danger. Were Veronica and Cheryl really my friends? Polly was sort of an acquaintance. So, I suppose I had to save my friend, my rival, my frenemy, and acquaintance.

Illuminated by the returning neon, I saw Cheryl by a doorway. I fist pumped, excited that I could see a way out. I needed to talk to Cheryl anyway.

"Hey! Come on, we gotta go, Cheryl!" I shouted as I ran over to her.

She slowly turned to face me, her expression blank and distant. It was the first thing I noticed due to her outstandingly ruby lipstick. I stopped in front of her, confused by her silence.

My voice cracked. I tapped her on the shoulder, but she stared ahead, not necessarily at me. "Cheryl? Hey, come on. Let's go. It's dangerous. Your brother—"

"I know about my brother." Cheryl spoke in a monotone. "I'm—ack—" she flinched in pain "—I'm trying to fight him off."

"What? Why? How?" I shook my head in confusion. So many questions were buzzing in my head.

"He's ordering me to intercept your plans and keep you here until you comply with him, but I need you to help me escape this madhouse. There's a reason I tried to burn this place down." Cheryl explained. "Right now I'm suppressing his mental capabilities. You need to go. This room is making you hallucinate."

"If there's a back door, take it. Meet Archie by the barn." I ordered.

"Ok! Hurry, you idiot!" Cheryl screeched, clutching her head and falling to her knees.

I nodded and darted out of the door. Now, the dining area was lit with candles scattered along the walls. The chandelier creaked ominously. A tapping took my attention to the door.

Jason slowly stepped out from the shadows as he spoke. "You just couldn't help yourself, _could you_?" He stepped onto the dining table with a look of unadulterated fury, his eyes illuminated in a fiery emerald burning within their sockets. "You had to disrupt _every_ one of my wishes. I spent so many days planning my takeover of this stupid world. Do you _realize_ how much I wanted this? I want the world to follow _me_. Take orders from _me_. _Tremble_ at my voice." Jason pointed down at me. "I want you to kneel before _me_." his voice was like gravel flying against tires.

Truth be told, my legs were shaking. I tried to swallow my fear, but all I could think about was what if Archie and Veronica didn't make it? What if I couldn't help them? What if I couldn't stop Jason?

Then, I remembered my motto. Stop thinking of what-ifs and maybes and live in the _DAMN NOW!_

Some impulse in me told me to throw my knife at the chandelier and when I did, the chain snapped, crashing down on Jason. He struggled limply underneath it. Did he ever die? It didn't matter, this was my opportunity to get away.

I grabbed my knife, dashed down the hall, and ended up in the foyer. I needed to make sure Archie, Veronica, Polly, and Cheryl were out of the house for the next part of my plan. Archie came running down with a very subdued Polly in his arms. Veronica trailed behind.

"What took you so long?" I asked.

"What do you mean? It's been like a couple minutes." Archie furrowed his brow. He pointed at my neck and then my forehead. "What happened?"

I bit my lip. Did I actually stab myself? I couldn't explain it to him just yet. "I dunno, but the hallucinations made it seem like forever. I'm sorry, just get to the barn." I waved them away as I ran to the garage.

"You have to explain everything later, Jug!" Archie called after me.

I made a mental note to do exactly that. But, at that moment, I didn't really care because I was too focused on the task at hand. I needed gasoline to set the mansion on fire and the only place I was going to get it would be the garage.

Through the basement, I found a passage to the carport. I searched for a good five minutes for a portable canister of gasoline, and finding none, I turned my attention to the cars. Grabbing a nearby crowbar, I proceeded to whack away at the gas tank, making it pour down like milk and honey. Unfortunately, this wouldn't be the best plan now since I couldn't spread it around the whole house, but it should've been enough to cause an explosion to make it crumble away.

I stood at the door, away from the pool of gasoline, and flicking my lighter ablaze, I tossed it away. I ran as fast as my legs could take me out of the mansion and towards the barn where Archie, Veronica, Polly, and Cheryl awaited.

* * *

 _Author's Note:_

 _have an OST for future re-reads!_

Radioactive-Imagine Dragons _(probably the whole fic's theme)_

Chasing Cars-Snow Patrol

She's so Lovely-Tal Bachman

Mr. Brightside-The Killers

Sign of the Times-Harry Styles

All the Small Things-Blink 182

Disa My Ting-T-Pain

Night We Met-Lord Huron _(I mean, 13rw and Riverdale shared a song or two already)_

Believer-Imagine Dragons _(it's a staple XD)_

I'm Not In Love-10cc

Tricky-Run DMC

Fireflies-Owl City

Dollhouse-Melanie Martinez

Paradise-Coldplay


	18. Jughead of the Dead

_Author's Note: This is the end, my friend. I recommend listening to_ Kids Will Be Skeletons by Mogwai _for the part after the escape from the mansion._

* * *

Steadily, I made my way down the hill to Archie, Veronica, and Cheryl at the barn. My getaway was almost perfect. Until I heard his voice, that is.

"Forsythe..."

My legs gave out and I tumbled down the rest of the way. I brought my legs to my chest in the fetal position, clutching my head as an immense pain shot through my brain.

Vividly, I saw through Jason's eyes the burning dining room. I could feel the heat and the pressure of the chandelier collapsed upon him. His arm and hand twitched as they lay barely off the table.

"You could've helped me." Jason croaked. "We could've been a team. We could've ruled the world. Isn't that what everybody wants? Pah," Jason spat, his blood splattering over the table. "You really hate me, don't you? Why don't you put this in another book? Immortalize me. Humor me. It's the least you could do for a dying man. Or am I just a demon to you?

"Whatever. It's nothing doing now. I wish I could tell you the pain I suffered. I wish I could've had you. All these years, I wished I was Archie. He was the lucky ginger in all of this. He had someone he could actually rely on. And what did I get? A lousy twin who pretended not to notice my pain, the one who told me to ignore it. I got a girlfriend who told me to run away from all of it. I had a football team who had no idea about any of it. I wanted someone I could explain everything to; someone who would believe me and would help me confront it. I wanted you.

"So I'm giving you the benefit of the doubt. Let's say you're just protecting your friends; you don't hate me. I'd hate me. I do hate me, in fact. I have a lot of regrets. But, there's nastier people in the world. There's people who have taken advantage of the gift of cordyceps. The virus has awakened a hive mind stronger than mine."

I huffed, barely able to take the ache of the telepathy. It was like a migraine. I let out a guttural scream into the smoking sky. I yelled out, "What do you mean? What hive mind? What does any of this—"

Jason gave a weak smile, one that reminded me of Archie's. "Just be prepared—" he chuckled softly "—Jughead of the Dead."

As his body went up in flames, I could feel every inch of my body burning. I screeched in pain, in horror, and in disgust. I don't remember what happened next, but I remember Archie being by my side.

* * *

"So why do you think he was going to kill us?" Archie asked. Saying he was a "little puzzled" by the whole Jason situation would've been an understatement.

"I—I think it was just jealousy." I was barely able to say it. Everything Jason said was extremely hard to stomach.

After escaping the Blossom Mansion, our group headed back to the Coopers' house to pick up some clothes for Polly and scavenge whatever we could get from there and Archie's as well. Then, we made our way through the car pile up to the bus station. Thankfully, it was still up and running from what we could see. We were approaching the entrance.

The weirdness of the apocalypse was normal to us now. During our overnight stay at the Coopers', I got to know Polly more than I had before all this. She didn't open up to me about the obvious abuse she had suffered under Jason's thumb, but she told me a lot of childhood stories featuring Betty. I told her some tales about my small adventures with Betty. I tried to help her with the loss of her sister, and through that we became good friends.

Veronica and Cheryl were still thorns at my side. I could tell Veronica still wasn't over Betty, and tried to push away from me and Polly because of it. Cheryl just had an icy exterior that was hard to crack. She was often silent, and we were never sure what she was thinking about. Sometimes she smiled or frowned for no reason. We didn't question it. She obviously went through some tough times just like Polly.

Archie, Veronica, Polly, Cheryl, and I entered the station. There were paramedics standing by, but we had no use for them. They seemed to have been sent to the government.

There were some familiar faces as well. Some Serpents were hanging around. Moose, Dilton, and Reggie sat on a bench, probably waiting on a bus. Moose looked annoyed or agitated by something as he was tapping his foot with his arms crossed, looking away from his group with his back turned to them. When our eyes met, he sneered at me. I remembered him killing Chuck, and he coukd tell. Dilton was sewing Reggie's face up. My spine tingled, thinking back to Jason and his jaw.

Dilton turned to spot my group. He smiled in greeting. I couldn't believe he survived. He was the first one gone, surely he should've come back as a regular zombie. He definitely looked more dead than Reggie or Cheryl. His skin was yellowed, his eyes were sunken in, and his limbs, appendages, neck, and waist looked like they were about to fall off if not for the Gordian knots keeping them together. Being a Cub Scout leader, I'd say he tied the knots himself.

I felt kind of bad for what Joaquin did to Reggie now that I saw him. He noticed me and waved with a dopey smile. Dilton cupped Reggie's cheeks in his palms and turned his head so that he was facing him.

"Don't turn away when I'm sewing. You'll get messed up." Dilton scoffed, continuing his needlework.

Reggie still looked over at me with regretful eyes. "Hey dude, I'm sorry for that day at Pop's. I might've stolen a few things after you left." he admitted, a slight blush on his cheeks.

"I can't believe you let that voice in your head control you. Thank god he stopped. I don't know who he was, but I wasn't going to let him take _me_ over." Dilton cursed under his breath, messing up a perfect stitch.

"Hey, you know, it happens." I shrugged.

I felt a finger tapping on my shoulder. Archie smiled at me and nodded towards a couple standing at the ticket booth. It was my father and Alice. I sighed heavily. Mind racing, I just stood there, catatonic with a look of being disgruntled. I thought I had lost everything to me, but as it turned out, everything else to me was right here.

Alice was the first to notice us. She teared up and embraced Polly fully. It seemed that she didn't want to let her go. My father raised a brow at Alice, and finally saw the rest of us. He brought me into a hug which I was very thankful for at that moment. I needed it so badly.

"The mansion— Jason— Dad, I..." my lip quivered, and I couldn't even speak as he held my shoulders.

"We're all here now and that's all that counts," my father said reassuringly.

"Are we going to Toledo?" I asked, hopeful. I wanted to see the rest of my family. I needed to know that they were okay. Though Ethyl had already told me that Toledo was closed off, I believed against all odds that it wasn't.

He took a deep breath. "No, son. We can't. It's been closed off indefinitely. I don't know where your mother and sister are, but we'll find them. We're going to Northwood. That's the closest we can get."

I nodded, somewhat happy with that answer. "Is everyone else going?"

"If they want to."

I turned to the rest of the group. Polly was probably going with Alice regardless, and like I expected, Veronica and Cheryl had no qualms with it. Archie was the one who I didn't expect to object.

I held a piercing gaze, staring directly into his eyes. It wasn't making sense to me. Archie took a quick glance at the ticket booth, then looked over at me with a look that said he didn't know what else to do.

"I need to go to Chicago. My mom... she's still there I'd bet. I need to know." Archie explained.

Veronica latched onto his arm. "I'll go with you. You can't go alone," she said quickly.

Archie looked down at her wistfully, then up at me with a look of melancholy. "You understand, right, Jug?"

I nodded slowly, hurt by his turn of direction. We were clearly at a crossroads and were taking different paths now.

"You'll be on the same bus as all of us, we'll just be getting off sooner," my father said. His expression was just as grim as mine. "Enjoy it while you can."

Dilton turned to my father, squinting. "Hey, if we become part of your Serpent gang, could we get those cool jackets?"

"I don't think this is something we need to consider." Moose muttered.

"If we go to Northwood instead of Cleveland, there has to be incentive." Dilton shrugged. He took a break from his sewing to clean his glasses. The left lens was a tad cracked up at the top.

"Serpent protection isn't enough?" Moose raised a brow.

"Whatever." Dilton sighed, returning to his sewing project. He was almost done.

"The next bus for Northwood and Chicago is leaving in a few minutes. Everybody needs to get their ideas straight and decide," my father announced.

* * *

Archie and I sat next to each other on the bus. It reminded me of our elementary days when we took the bus to school every day. I was always the kid who stuck my gum on the roof. Archie laughed so much back then. I wondered what happened.

"Hey,"

I snapped my head up from the sight of the moving road beneath the bus. I was surprised he gave me the window seat. He begged for it all the time when we were little.

I shuffled in my seat. "Hey," I said back without any feeling in my voice.

"One day, I could come visit you in Northwood. Or you could visit me in Chicago." Archie suggested.

"I'd love to, buddy." I tried to smile, but I ended up wincing instead at the dark thought that this would never happen.

"I wish we didn't have to leave each other." Archie looked down dejectedly.

"Me too. Let's pretend we don't have to for the next hour. How's that? Then, it can hit us like a brick train. And then you can go to Chicago with Veronica and have a nice life with a bunch of children I guess." I just kept getting more and more heated, especially when I thought of Veronica.

"Jug, come on. Let's have a nice ride." Archie nudged my shoulder.

I was silent for the rest of my trip.

* * *

Stirring, I barely opened my eyes to see Archie standing up. He gestured for me to get up. Groggily, I stood, rubbing my eyes. I must have nodded off.

"Are you leaving?" I asked, barely awake. I yawned and stretched.

"No, Veronica and I are staying. The Serpents are getting off. We're in Northwood, Jug." Archie shrugged.

My chest did leaps as I quickly realized what this meant. I furrowed my brow and shook my head. Words failed me. All I could say was "no no no no," as I looked around me and saw a nearly empty bus. I bit my lip, holding back tears that so desperately wanted to slide down my cheeks. I held onto the backs of the seats I was between. I didn't want to let them go. He was my best friend. He was supposed to follow me to the ends of the earth and that included Northwood.

"Jughead, you gotta go with your dad. Everyone's waiting on you," Archie said, pointing out the window.

I snatched his hand and held it to my chest. "Don't go to Chicago, Arch... please... I— you can't leave me..." I sobbed, unable to suppress my tears any longer.

"Jug, I have to. My mom's probably waiting for me. I just wish my dad could see her too." Archie stared at the bus door longingly.

"Please, Archie. I don't want to be the one that left you." I cried, my voice faltering on the last word.

Archie pulled me into a tight hug. I wailed on his shoulder. It felt like what forever should feel like.

"I love you." I whispered in Archie's ear.

"Love you too," Archie said.

He let go and pushed me out into the aisle gently.

"You're my best friend." Archie sighed. He clearly didn't want to say the word, "goodbye" as much as I didn't.

"And you're mine too, Arch." I bit my lip.

He nodded for me to get off of the bus. I ambled out with my hands in my pockets. When I linked arms with my father, I looked up at Archie and waved him off. He gave a big grin and a wave as his window passed by.

The bus left without fanfare.

Behind me were what was left of the Southside Serpents and their three new recruits, Dilton Doiley, Reggie Mantle, and the one whom Riverdale High simply calls Moose. My father stood with his hands on my shoulders. Polly was in Alice's arms, and Cheryl close by. It felt like we were all united as a sort of family.

I managed to smile; we were finally out of Riverdale. The mini apocalypse was over. Jason was over.

My life, however... was just beginning.

* * *

 _Author's Note: And that's the end! I hope you enjoyed this fic! If this gets enough reviews(probably around ten more or so, idk), I might make a sequel fic. Until then, anybody is welcome to write their own(w/ credit to me of course)._

 _Honestly, I expected there to be a lot of zombie apocalypse fics for_ Riverdale _. I was shocked that only a couple other people explored the topic. I though_ Afterlife With Archie _was popularly known? Perhaps, people just didn't want to change the plot. Idk._

 _So the ending is pretty sad. Archie and Veronica are in Chicago while Jughead, Polly, and Cheryl are in Northwood. Hopefully they'll meet back up. (But, you'll know how they meet up if you get that reference in their last words). We can't forget the new Serpents though. I decided to bring Dilton, Moose, and Reggie back because I didn't do enough with their characters and if I did make a sequel, I'd love to writeg for them._

 _Now, some may be upset that I brought them and not Betty back. Well, it's not that I dislike Betty or can't write for her, it's just that she was supposed to be the loss in the theme of this fic. To bring her back would've destroyed the fic's integrity. Besides, now Jughead has Polly to protect. So... shipping begin? No, he's minor and she's an adult... so maybe not yet. (In this fic, they're 17 and 19, respectively)_

 _So yeah. This was great to write, I loved every second of it, and I'm sad it's over. I really hope you guys liked it. Please tell me what you guys thought in the reviews. I saw so many visitors and it seemed that a lot of people were enjoying the fic, but I never heard from them. It was disheartening, but I kept on going because **I** enjoyed what I wrote. Not only did I write to present a fun/sad AU to _ Riverdale _fans, but also because this would be something that **I** would want to read. So, I really hope everyone aporeciated it as much as I did._

 _Honestly, tell me what you guys would've changed! I'd love to hear your feedback! Favorite parts, favorite characters, who you shipped... feedback is my best friend! Questions, too! I love them,_ _and I love everyone that read every chapter / favorited / followed / reviewed this fic. All of you are the real MVP's **Thank you so much for reading!**_

 _ **...**_

 _ **...**_

 _ **...**_

 _And as for Jason... he's not completely gone just yet... ;)_

 _Spoilers~_


End file.
